Angelus

Chapter 7

Sesshomaru didn’t linger much longer in the calm area that sheltered his group for the last weeks. Things were on the move elsewhere on these lands and he needed to be where it would all unfold, whether a new member had apparently joined his crew or not.

The kappa and dragon were seemingly happy to go back to their usual wanderings. Traveling through forests and plains was routine for them and for the child that blissfully followed the tall youkai everywhere, but not for Kitana. The foreign creature had not often been in direct contact with such a pure and untouched nature; its beauty and wilderness totally mesmerized her, somewhat dimming the hard, throbbing feelings that ate at her from inside. The small animals running in the trees and on the ground; the tiny insects, so blatantly unaware of the dangerous creatures that lived right beside them and could destroy them on a whim; the luxurious vegetation unspoiled by any type of pollution; everything around her sang a song of freedom. She could feel a strong desire to live coming from the more evolved forms of life, no matter how pointless or insignificant they were. The more she studied her surroundings, the more her sorrow and guilt seemed pathetic and unfounded compared to the joys that life could bring.

However much she was lost in her contemplation of nature’s wonders, Kitana quickly learned to keep a part of her mind trained upon Sesshomaru. When they stopped to eat or to sleep, he never told them when he was ready to depart: he rose and left, without a warning. Rin was very good at keeping up with him, even at anticipating his moves, but the imp and Kitana were often left behind. She was much quicker than the diminutive youkai though and always caught up with the leader of the group, only using her ability to track energy signatures on a couple of occasions. The panicked screams of anxiety of the little kappa soon became music to her ears, and she took pleasure at disappearing amongst the foliage in the wrong direction so he couldn’t follow her to get to his Lord.

Their routine was put back in place again, Kitana improving her strength and fighting style steadily. Her early morning meditation and attempts to adjust her energies to what she felt around her were starting to give results and were not draining her as much as they used to. The sparring sessions with Sesshomaru were still very hard on her for she was far from attaining his level of skills, but she took advantage of their surroundings to the fullest, hiding in the foliage and using the trees as shields against the powerful attacks from her partner. She was a skilled climber and her fighting style which used the three dimensions of her environment was seldom seen amongst demons. Even Sesshomaru, who could walk and fight as easily on air than on the ground, had not met many foes who used tactics like hers. It was refreshing for him, in a way, as novelty was not a common occurrence when one lived for centuries. However, without her ability to sense emotions Kitana would have no clue about his growing enjoyment of their sparring since the tall taiyoukai never let go of his stern, aloof mask.

Kitana’s speed kept improving while her long unused muscles came back to life. Her agility amongst the branches and the trees impeded her opponent’s ability to use his energy whip and after a few days he chose to wield his Tokijin against her. The seriousness of the situation caused her to stumble then stay glued into place when she saw the blade pointed toward her.

“What are you doing? Are you really going to use… this?”

The answer came quickly, as she was propelled against a tree by a wave of power coming directly from the blade.

“You don’t take your training as seriously as you should. The Tokijin will make sure that you don’t become overconfident.”

“The Tokijin? Don’t tell me you gave a name to your sword?” exclaimed Kitana as she lunged at the taiyoukai, and then took refugee higher up on a branch as her claws caught nothing but air.

“Indeed, and a fine name it is” he answered right from behind her before descending his weapon right upon her head. She wouldn’t have enough time to dodge the attack, so she turned around and blocked the blade with her crossed forearms, the spikes on them stopping the sword from sliding lower toward her head.

Sesshomaru didn’t imbued youki into the blade, but the weapon was still a terrible one, able to cut through matters as hard as his own father’s fang. Kitana’s armor adjusted to the structure of the sword and became hard enough to resist it, to Sesshomaru and the young woman’s surprise. A battle of will and strength started, one of them pushing down with an increasing pressure and the other blocking with all her might. Sesshomaru was pleased to see how much stronger Kitana had become in the last weeks. Even though she was struggling when he used only a portion of his power, her arms shaking under the strain, she was already much stronger than any human and lower demons. He pushed slightly harder and Kitana, unable to withstand more, rolled on herself to disengage the sword and jumped toward the ground.

After the addition of the dreaded weapon to their sparring sessions, Sesshomaru and Kitana soon found themselves training further away from the child and the kappa. The trees were constantly getting in their way and none of them wanted a chopped trunk to fall upon their smallest companions.

On one of these excursions, Sesshomaru was pursuing Kitana through the trees, sending a blast of his Tokijin when he could get a glimpse of her movements, when he almost stumbled upon her. She had totally stopped paying attention to him; instead she was focused on something happening below the hill upon which they stand. He looked, puzzled, but only saw a group of five human women accompanied by a small detachment of soldiers. One of the women was singing and dancing on a music that another one was making on a long string instrument, possibly to entertain the other three which appeared to be of higher society. A large silken cloth was spread on the ground and food was scattered on it, with hot tea being prepared. They were having a picnic amongst the flowers. Testing the air, Sesshomaru detected the stench coming from a human village not far away from where they were, a larger village than what he usually saw.

Kitana was hypnotized by what she was seeing. Could it really be happening? Amongst the three noble women, one was different. When all the others sported black, straight hairs and almond-shape eyes, this one had a mane of curly red hairs cascading over her shoulders. Her traits were clearly foreign, but she spoke with the others as if their speech was her birth language. And she was looking directly at her, as if she could distinguish her form amongst the shadows of the forest.

Sesshomaru was growing tired of this interlude, but as he was turning away from the humans, a foul odour hit him, arousing his curiosity. Kitana reacted immediately by coming to his side, nervously looking at the woods at the foot of the hill. It was only then that they saw the nature of the newcomers: demons. Seven of them appeared between the trees away from them, walking in a line and taking utmost care to stay well hidden while approaching the humans. Apparently they were oblivious to Sesshomaru and Kitana’s presence but determined to make a meal of human flesh.

To Sesshomaru’s trained eyes and nose, the things were clearly feline demons of a kind or another, cats, panthers or the like. To Kitana, it wasn’t that clear. They were obviously not human, as their fangs, claws and pointed ears demonstrated, but they wore various pieces of clothing and armours that were similar to what the humans and Sesshomaru were wearing. They all sported large green eyes with a slit pupil, a rather humanoid face with a snout just a little too elongated to be human. Below their noses and above their eyes, long whiskers emerged from their skin and short tails with tabby fur were visible behind their backs. Their brown and black hairs were short, spiked on two of the demons and just unkempt on the others. Their stance however distinguished them very clearly from the humans: the first once was half-raised, half-crouched, the next three were walking on all four, slowly advancing toward the humans, and the last ones were perched on low branches, making their way to their preys by jumping from tree to tree.

As Sesshomaru was about to turn and walk away from the scene, he realized that he had lost his partner. Kitana was nowhere to be seen. Irritated, the taiyoukai returned his gaze to the scene that was preparing to unfurl below the hill. The humans were still unaware of the drama about to happen and the cats were still slowly advancing toward their prey. However, a new actor was present in the scene. A slender, black silhouette that he would have missed had he not been used to searching for her while they fought was following the group of demons closely, stealthily, from higher up in the trees. Suddenly, she extended her tail and wrapped it tightly around the neck of the last of the cats, crushing the bones, tracheas and arteries in the process. The feline creature did not see the attack coming; before he realized what was happening he was already dead, his carcass stacked at the fork of a high branch.

Sesshomaru couldn’t believe what he witnessed. He was angry of her initiative and couldn’t understand why she would feel the need to attack the cat demons. They were clearly not interested in her, were not in her way or threatening her in any way, yet she was doing her best to decimate their ranks. How troublesome.

Below the hill, a second cat faced death as the long bony appendage plucked him from his branch. Sesshomaru couldn’t even detect the smallest amount of fear in the cat’s scent; the youkai had not seen his aggressor coming at all.

The five remaining cats did not notice the absence of two members of their group before they emerged from the trees, regrouping before attacking the humans. The soldiers reacted to their appearance by placing themselves between the youkai and the panicked women, swords unsheathed. The felines were about to lunge on their preys when suddenly, Kitana appeared before them, facing their group with a fierce look in her eyes. The cats were taken by surprise by her intervention and stopped to evaluate the newcomer. The largest one addressed her.

“Who are you, and what do you want? We are hunting, and you are interfering.”

Not answering him, she struck. In the blink of an eye one of the cats found his legs entangled in his own bowels. He had not yet felt the pain of the attack or understood what happened to him when he saw one of his brothers’ head rolling on the ground before his very eyes. Hissing and growling, the three other cats decided to let go of their human preys to concentrate their attack on this puny, irritating creature who dared attacking them.

Before them she stood again, her black bony tail wet with crimson blood, and then she crouched on the ground, preparing her next attack. Sesshomaru did not understand the reason of her reaction, as she was clearly not the intended prey of the cats. She should not have mingled with them, but now it was too late. She would get acquainted with the legendary strength and speed of feline demons, and he would certainly not intervene.

His eyes caught the whole scene unravelling before him. The humans fled as fast as they could, with the curious red-headed princess taking glances at their unlikely saviour over her shoulder. The three cats that were still able to fight quickly started their attacks, in a typically feline way. One of them directed a faint strike at Kitana, which left her side exposed to the attack of another member of the trio. She evaded the sharp claws brilliantly, but when she tried to fight back the demons jumped away in the treetops. Soon, the battle left the hillside to take place in the forest itself. Unhappy and almost sighing, Sesshomaru followed them.

It was then that the cats found their comrades bodies. Stopping dead in front of the corpses balancing amongst the high branches, a shocked look upon their faces, they left their backs exposed and Kitana took advantage of the opening. She came from above, jumping on one of the cats, but at the last moment they heard a branch that she hit and moved out of the way, descending to the ground. She landed right in the middle of their group, and was face to face with terribly infuriated demons who just found their group decimated in less than five minutes.

As Sesshomaru caught up with the belligerents, a fifth youkai met his end when he tried to attack Kitana from behind. He plunged upon her back as she dodged an attack from the two other cats, grabbed her body within his strong arms and took a vicious bite at her neck, just above her ornament. This bite would have been the end of ay other creature, but as soon as the fangs of the cat grazed her skin, yellow acid flowed in his mouth and started to hate away at his face. Screaming with agony, the cat used his hands to wipe away the offending liquid, with the expected results of having the acid now eating both his hands and mouth. Convulsed in pain, he ran to his brothers for assistance but died before reaching them, with half of his head reduced to a bloody, gelatinous mess. Too bad, thought Kitana, as she would have liked to see their face when their brother grabbed them with what was left of his hands, transferring the remaining acid on them…

The remaining cats were furious as they did not expect to meet such resistance from a demon so weak they couldn’t even sense its youki. Kitana was having fun, despite her sore neck; this was a good occasion for her to vent the frustrations created by all the mock-fights with Sesshomaru. At least this time she could let her claws sink into their flesh as much as she wanted, and she appreciated it immensely.

Sesshomaru, despite his disinterested attitude, was surprised by the fierceness of her attacks. If he had not seen her torturing the deer, he would not have believed that she had this level of barbarism in her. He remembered when she told him that close combat was not her style, and now he understood. Stealth was never a technique he favoured or respected for none could match his strength or his speed, his approach was direct and brutal; but it suited her lithe form perfectly. She mixed close-combat techniques with fast, sneaky attacks and retreats. She was an assassin, not a real fighter, but she was skilled at what she did.

An enraged roar brought the taiyoukai back to reality. The smaller of the two remaining cats met his end mere feet away from him. As he rushed to attack Kitana, all claws ready to strike, she stepped aside and his momentum carried him forward, toward Sesshomaru’s impassive form. Brutally the cat demon stopped dead in his track, wide-eyed and confused. As consciousness left him and he felt forward, the taiyoukai calmly examined what killed the cat: when he passed beside Kitana, she had seized his spinal column right between his shoulder plates and torn it out of its body, down to the hips. The last cat still standing let go of a terrible scream of rage when he understood that he had just lost his last sibling.

“Who are you, you whore, to dare attacking my blood brothers and me?”

Kitana did not answered; instead she kept her distances, crouched low with her deadly tail swirling around her.

The remaining cat was flabbergasted by what had happened so fast around him. This shrew, this wench had slaughtered his brothers without as much as a provocation from them! They were peacefully minding their own business, hunting for a proper meal, when she furiously murdered his brothers. She managed to kill them right before his eyes, as easily as if she was picking up flowers. And there he stood, the last of his litter, facing death itself. It would not happen this way, he thought.

“You will die, wench. You will know the price to pay for killing members of my family!”

Fumbling in one of his pocket, he caught three little things that he received from a strange youkai weeks ago. The dark-haired male, clad in a baboon pelt, had promised that these tiny objects would bring him and his brothers an immense power in exchange for a small and easy task. His brothers and he were asked to explore a mountain full of underground caves and tunnels to find which one led to a particular ceremonial chamber. Although the memory of that place still gave him the creeps, the search was an easy exercise for creatures endowed with nocturnal vision and he received the promised reward. He brought the shiny pink shards to his eyes and without a second thought, swallowed them.

Sesshomaru rose one of his brows, having caught a glimpse of what exactly the cat had swallowed: a Shikon jewel shard. Many of them, as far as he could tell. This was not auguring well for Kitana; she was not prepared to face such an opponent. He knew she was a decent opponent now, but he was also aware of her limits. As much as he was eager to be rid of her, he found out that he would not enjoy being the witness of her death. It was not honourable to be killed by a demon possessed by the artificial power of the jewel. Not really knowing why he would do such a thing, he told himself that he could at least stay there until she died. It was not really a waste of time, as he suspected it would not be long now for her to be killed. Then, his life could go back to normal.

Kitana was giving the cat some time to gather his thoughts, as so far the battle had been too easy. However when she saw him swallow something and then sensed an increase in his energy levels, she frowned. She had known of beings that were able to control their energy enough to fight using only the bare minimum needed, and increasing it when the fight became harder. It was her own way to fight, when she was at her best. But that? Impossible, she thought. The energy that now swirled around the cat’s body was completely different from his previous one, stronger but also darker in a way. Before her eyes, the very body of the demon started morphing into something else, becoming a much taller and more muscular being, with claws now looking like the 18 inches scythes she sported on her back. Bony spikes emerged from his forearms and thighs and his upper fangs were now growing past his chin. His muscles seemed to bulge out of his skin. He then came at her in a powerful jump, and she barely had the time to move out of its way.

He was now extremely swift and even more agile than before, more agile than Kitana. As much as she tried, she was so busy fending off his strikes that she couldn’t land a killing blow on him, like she did on his siblings. The cat succeeded to toss her on the ground and against trees easily, never giving her the chance to retaliate. Hurting from everywhere, she decided to change her strategy.

When faced with an attack, instead of trying to block or dodge, she caught the offending member and sank her claws and teeth into it, tearing its skin and muscles apart. For the demon, striking at her was like putting his hands and feet directly in the jaws of a giant shark, only to see them ripped into pieces. It hurt like hell, but thanks to the jewel shards now scattered inside his body, he healed fast and was ready to strike again in a matter of seconds.

Kitana did not understand how he could heal that fast, so she increased the strength of her attacks to the point where she tore away one of the cat’s arms, breaking the very bone in the process. His cries of pain echoed far away in the surrounding woods and fields, but his rage seemed to be fuelled to a greater degree by the amputation. She threw the appendage away and spun around to receive the next blow, a powerful strike from his left knee that grounded her into the dirt. She did not loose any time before crushing the bones of his left thigh with a swipe from her tail then ripping his leg off. In the same swipe she struck at his abdomen with a spiked elbow, opening it from side to side just as she did to the first cat then disengaged her body from under her heavy, bloody opponent.

The cat was screaming out his pain and his wrath, covered in his own blood and filth. However, he was soon helped by the power of the jewel shards, his guts climbing back into his belly, his wound closing up. Tendrils spouted from the stump of his leg and they quickly reattached the lost member, sealing the torn muscles and skin as if nothing happened. Kitana couldn’t believe what she was witnessing; really, she thought, she ought to awaken of this nightmare very soon as she was quickly growing out of options.

Now standing firmly on his two legs, with his innards exactly where they should be, the cat lunged at Kitana. His massive claws were clashing with the spikes of her forearms while her tail was trying to strike at him between the blows. Slowly, but steadily, he was backing her against a tree. It was then that she was caught by surprise by a powerful grip around her neck.

The cat emitted a sadistic burst of laughter, as he had seen his severed arm crawling its way to his enemy. When the arm jumped and strangled her from behind, he was more than happy for the little diversion. Kicking at her legs, he made her fall square on her back, his large body quickly seated upon her frail one, her hands held firmly above her head by his muscular arms. He took a moment to bare his fangs and hiss at the dog demon who witnessed the scene, making it clear that any intervention would not be welcomed. Sesshomaru couldn’t care less; even though his respect for Kitana’s strength and abilities had been growing in the last days, it was not his duty to keep her safe from the death she craved so much. Only from Naraku’s grip.

The youkai seized the ebony creature by the neck and brought her face closer to him, staring directly at her black and yellow eyes. Licking his lips in a hungry way, he leaned toward her.

“So, wench, how does it feel to become the loser?” he asked her, his foul breath upon her face.

“Screw… you!”

As he heard Kitana say those words, Sesshomaru was once again surprised by her reactions. She was helpless, lying on the ground with a demon overpowering her, and nonetheless she bared her teeth widely in a defiant hiss. However, when her teeth parted and her jaws started to open, a second set of jaws covered with many pearl white fangs appeared, as if lying in wait for an occasion to strike. And strike it did. In a flash, her jaws opened widely, and for a moment Sesshomaru thought that the ear-to-ear toothy grin he involuntarily made when he was transforming from humanoid to animal shape looked very similar to what she was doing. The similarity ended soon though. Instead of going back in a large smile, her cheeks seemed to burst under the pressure and many gaps appeared in the flesh below her cheekbones, allowing him a full view right in and through her mouth. The second set of fangs was attached to a black tubular thing that suddenly erupted from her mouth at a high speed and impacted with the cat demon’s forehead, easily blowing it away. The youkai stilled and then fell upon her, giving her the opportunity to strike twice more in rapid succession. The last blast penetrated so deeply in the cat’s head that the back of his skull exploded, brain and blood flying everywhere.

Grumbling, Kitana removed herself from under the large body, detaching the offending arm from her neck with a look of intense disgust on her face. Kneeling just beside the body, she was spitting and rubbing her mouth energetically when Sesshomaru approached her. She gave him a foul look.

“You… you could have helped me, you know! This bastard kept reattaching his body parts in case you didn’t noticed; I could have used a hand!”

Sesshomaru didn’t react to her ranting. Instead, he was intently looking at the cadaver facing the earth beside the girl. He frowned slightly when he noticed movement inside the large wound behind its head. Kitana turned around when she realized where the demon lord was looking.

“No… No no no no no!! There is NO way in hell this is starting all over again!”

Fumbling on her feet, it was clear to her now that the brain she blasted moments ago was really healing now. The arm she threw on the ground was also moving toward the wounded shoulder. Sighing, she decided it was time she ended this game. Fighting against an ever-healing enemy was no more fun than when she was faced with Kagura’s dead puppets, and the large cat met the same end as the lower youkai. Powered by her inner energies, an intense fire engulfed and burned the tortured corpse until nothing was left except for grey, smelly ashes.

“Why did you attack them?”

The cold tone of his voice was exactly what Kitana didn’t need to hear at that moment. Looking at him defiantly, she answered in an arrogant way.

“Why do you ask? You don’t understand the concept of helping someone, so you wouldn’t care anyway.”

Turning away from her, Sesshomaru decided the lesson was finished. Kitana was going to follow him when she saw the glittering of what looked like a small purple gem, lying amongst the ashes. Looking carefully, she found two others and she gathered them all in her hands. The shards gave her a weird sensation, as if they were the catalysts of higher powers.

“Sesshomaru?” she asked. From further away in the woods, he stopped and turned to face her.

“Do you know what these are? I think they may have caused the transformation of the beast.”

“Indeed” he answered before walking away again.

“Hey! Don’t go away that fast! If they are so powerful, what do you suggest to do with them? Surely if we just let them there another monster will pick them up and go on a rampage.”

Scrutinizing her carefully, he shrugged. As far as he could tell, Kitana seemed unfazed by the power of the shards.

“There is no “we”, the decision is yours. This Sesshomaru has no need for those tainted shards. Do as you please.”

With that he resumed his walk toward their camp. Kitana was puzzled by his behaviour, and she decided it was safer to keep the shards. She put them safely inside her belly pouch and went after the taiyoukai, looking down the hill where everything started in case one of the humans still remained; a red-headed one, in particular. But only the wind was whistling and dancing amongst the trees.