Hunted By The Wolf

Hunted By The Wolf

Chapter 8: Claustrophobia

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Cliffhanger! Cliffhanger!

Literally. Anyhow, I know what you're
thinking; The dumb bitch used the age
old fall-through-the-ground-or-Miroku-and-Sango-
get-trapped-under-an-avalanche-trick.

Not so. Promise. I'm hoping this is
somewhat original. I'd really like to
know what you all think, especially
you pirates out there ;)
Thanks again, guys.
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Darkness. For so long I'd wondered if I'd fallen into hell.
I'd never imagined hell to be filled with water, however.
We all came into rough contact with the water in six
progressive splashes, all, I'm sure, as painful as mine.
'Damn,' I thought briefly, somehow in the state of mind to
hold my breath, 'feels like I just got slapped all over...'


I thrashed, trying to get to the surface again. We'd fallen
for so long that I imagine we'd all sunk to a good ten feet down
once we hit the water. Air. There you are. I gasped,
treading water and looking around wildly for all of my
companions. One.
Sputtering, indignant hanyou. Two, coughing, terrified girl. Oh,
thank kami. I wasn't sure if she'd make it. Three, gasping
monk, staff still tightly in hand. There you are, I thought,
breathing hard as Kouga's ponytail whipped into the air wetly
from the water's surface. Four. Hmmm...Four....


"Kirara!" I cried out in a wet voice, coughing up a few
mouthfuls of water. Inuyasha splashed over to me, patting
me on the back a few times, hard. Once I could
breathe again, I tore my eyes over the surface of the
water. She'd fallen too, I know she did...but where
was she? Kouga was moving suddenly,
splashing off towards a white figure floating facedown
on the surface of the water. I felt my heart beat
speed up inhumanly as I raced to her side.
She had to be alright. My darling girl just
had to. I couldn't lose the only companion I'd had
since childhood.


I sobbed in relief as Kouga turned to me, showing
a tiny, transformed ball of matted fur. Her flames
had gone out when she'd hit the water and she'd changed
back unconsciously.

"She's breathing," he said softly, relieved. My eyes
welled, though I didn't care.
"We've got to get her to dry land," I stated, looking
around. I almost hit myself in the head. There was
light down here. How was it possible when the
collapse we'd fallen through was a tiny speck high
above us. I imagine our eyes all zeroed in on the
same area, then.


There. It emanated from a barely visible ledge of glistening
black rock. Two blue flames, floating on either side of a
large gash in the rock. I didn't hesitate. We needed to
push whatever water was left in that little body out and
get her conscious again. I yanked on Kouga's wristband
and gestured quickly; "Get going!" I yelled. The youkai
didn't miss a beat and moved with ridiculous speed to
the ledge. We followed, Inuyasha beating us.


He helped Kagome out first, and then Miroku and I
pulled ourselves up. I rushed to Kirara quickly, in time
to see Kouga revive her. He held her tiny body underneath
the arms, pushing up quickly along her spine with
his thumbs on either side. After a few repeats of this
motion, my little neko puked up water. Her eyes were
wide, unblinking as she finished, and she stared around
at all of us. Unbidden, tears found their way down my
face as I fell to sit in front of her, putting out a
hesitant hand to cradle her paw. She mewed
weakly, and I would have laughed at how pitiful she
looked sopping wet, had I not been ready to sob.


Kouga set her gently in my lap and I brushed a hand
over her head. My heart was slowing, but my stomach
was still ready to empty its contents. Which, really
were zero. Kirara's red eyes closed tightly as she
shivered against me, seeking warmth where I
could give none. I was just as soaked as she,
and my hunter's uniform was too form fitting to fit
her inside. I looked up to Kouga, imploring.


"Kouga, could you..make her warm?" I grimaced
at asking him anything. But I needed this from
him. He stared at me, a worried expression
gracing his face for a moment until he seemed
to snap into recognition. He picked her up and
wrapped her in fur on his lap. I sighed, exhausted
by my panic. I wiped my face absently, pushing away
water and tears simultaneously. Kouga watched me,
a severe look on his face until he realized I was holding
his gaze. His eyes snapped down to his lap, and he
peeked under the fur to her tiny, softly breathing
body.


"She's passed out," he whispered, a grim look on his
face. "What is it?" I demanded, leaning over to get
a better look. Kagome and Miroku leaned over us eagerly,
worried expressions on their faces.
"Sango," he muttered, blowing out air slowly. "Her
ribs look pretty bruised up." His mouth twisted and he
looked up to me again. I bit my lip.
"But she's alive," I breathed hopefully. Inuyasha
was surveying our surroundings, sizing up our light source.
"This ain't good," the muttering hanyou came back to us,
frowing at Kirara's condition. "She got clobbered by a big
piece of falling rock when she fell with us. She didn't have
any time to fly, Sango. There's no way we're gettin' back
up to that hole. Fuckin' hole," He growled, shoving his hands
in his sleeves. Kagome grabbed the dangling edge of a sleeve
and pulled herself up, leaving her hand fisted in the material.
She looked up at him for a moment, and then sighed sadly.


"We've got to get Kirara back to my bag somehow," she stated,
rubbing her arms. The girl was shivering, the wind that whistled
through this cavern was cold and wasn't an ideal combination
with our current state. Inuyasha grunted and shrugged out of
his haori, covering the girl with the immense thing. Indignant for
a moment, Kagome found herself swathed in firerat, which
for the most part looked like it had stayed dry. I frowned. Worst
off was houshi, his robes clinging to him like wet sheets. He
didn't shiver, however, and watched Kouga intently.


"There's wind coming through there," I gestured tiredly, absently
rubbing a cramp out of my previously injured side's leg. My body
wouldn't be the same for a while, I realized with dissappointment.
This weakness definitely put a damper on the idea of making our way
through an unfamiliar cave. Kouga's face was a hard mask as he
returned his attention to the ball of wet fur in his lap. He pulled loose
the swath of fur she was wrapped in from his waist and kept her
loosely covered in it as he handed her to me gingerly. My eyes
widened slightly at that. How many layers of fur did he wear? Didn't
it get hot? Why are you worried about how many clothes he
has on? Worried about how easy the access is?


I turned away and got up, trying to move away from whatever
prompted my traitorous mind to supply such thoughts at such a
bleak moment. We moved slowly to the blue flames. We'd seen
these before, always in dire situations. Death. They were the markers
for death. And lots of it.


Miroku was high strung, so uncomfortable that the rest of our collective
attentions' were focused on him. He glared at the flames for a moment,
and his hand went inside of his robes to where I knew he kept his supply of
ofuda. Telling by the expression on his face, they were probably in pieces,
wet and as frail as the paper they were.


"Can you use them at all?" I asked him softly, turning back to the water.
Hiraikotsu. Kagome followed my gaze and put her hands up to her mouth.

"Inuyasha," she began, making her voice soft and feminine. I stopped the
laugh that nearly made its' way out. "Sango's weapon was lost, and I don't
want you using the wind scar in such a delicate place," He seemed to
resist for a moment, and then realized that she was using her head.
He growled and lumbered over to the edge, jumping in without grace.
He paddled around for a moment, looked confused, and then dove under.
I watched the surface expectantly until he broke water, and came back
with the boomerang in tow.


"Oh thank you, Inuyasha," I said graciously, slinging the weapon over
my back. I managed a smile to the hanyou and he grunted before
starting for the entrance.


I looked to Miroku. "Well, houshi?" He appeared startled, then remembered
my question. "If there are fire demons, then yes. It will extinguish the flames
on their foreheads." His humor was always so oddly placed. So, into the
flames of death we went. Maybe we had fallen into hell.


Kouga was just as tense, if not more so, than Miroku. We moved slowly,
Inuyasha first, holding a claw up. These passageways were huge and
cavernous at first, jagged and natural. Then the bones began to appear.
Some were large, impossible for them to belong to humans. The sight of
them made Kagome shrink closer to Inuyasha, and I knew
her thoughts;
Whatever had eaten those giant creatures must've been much larger
itself. I hugged Kirara to my chest carefully, trying my best not to squish her.
The houshi moved near Inuyasha, eyes darting around wildly. I
wondered what it was he sensed that we couldn't, not even Inuyasha. The
hanyou seemed so much more at ease than the other three, and I
chalked up my near indifference to relief. Kirara had survived, and
so had we all. We were a band of warriors, after all. And weren't
we fairly skilled? Of course, I wasn't in top form thanks
to the poison of the saimyoushou, but Inuyasha and Kouga..


Kouga was growling low in his chest, his claws clenched. He moved with
his head low between his shoulder blades, looking every bit the
wolf he was. I smiled through my apprehension, wondering
if he ever realized what an animal he looked like. These thoughts,
however, weren't really appropriate for the situation, and so I returned
my focus to our surroundings.


The bones were fewer and far between; now moisture preserved
corpses littered the ground. I was beginning to smell the hot,
wet funk of the place, and realized that both Inuyasha and Kouga
had shielded their noses. I did not envy them their youkai senses
now.


"This is bad," Miroku stated simply, coming to a stop. Kagome had
whimpered and turned away from a particularly disgusting, glittering
corpse. The light in this place now seemed to emanate from the rock
itself, dim and weak as it was. We all stopped, looking around us.
We might as well have been walking in the woods at night,
really.


There was so much space here, that it seemed the night sky was
the roof of the cavern. Kouga crossed his arms, peering into the
darkness. His face changed then, shock evident. We watched
him, wondering what he could've possibly noticed that we didn't.
It wasn't a threat, whatever it was. He knelt down on the moist rock,
picking up what looked like a plate.


Even from ten feet or so away I could see his shoulders tense up as
he appeared to rub at something on the object's surface. Inuyasha
sighed loudly, impatiently, and tapped his foot. Exchaning a confused
look with Kagome and the monk, I took a few tentative steps forward.


"Kouga?" Turned, swept up as he held the object in a tight fist.
"These were wolves," he stated quietly, anger creeping through. His
eyes flashed red a few times, and he shut his eyes tight and put his
face down, baring his teeth during his struggle. I fell back. It wasn't
as though he would transform and slaughter us all, pure youkai blood
wasn't actually so out of control. Some, lower youkai of course,
couldn't control their bloodlust. The inner desire for blood that Inuyasha
felt when he was transformed was unique to him in that he couldn't
control it due to his bloodline. Myouga had told us as
much once, swearing us to discretion for his indulgence.


I wasn't afraid of Kouga. I was afraid for him. He was
shaking visibly, face turned away from object being
crushed in his fist. It was metal, or so it appeared from the
way it bent under the pressure. I stepped closer and peered
at it. From beneath his fist came a stylized, simplistic
drawing of a two headed wolf. I quirked an eyebrow at him,
hoping he would explain without prodding. He knew
where we were and I wanted to be let in on it already.


"That," he gestured absently to the long-rotting carcass
behind us, "...was Katsu." Wolf youkai ground this out from
between his teeth, and though we could all hear him clearly
we didn't understand. Who was Katsu?


"He was my brother." Oh. Question answered. I glanced