Unbound

-Unbound-

The smoke choked her lungs, the dark shrouded her sight, and the distant cries of her comrades rung in her ears, but that was all distant to her now. For she knew, as every soldier knew, that here, in the gathering dark, one would not be given the luxury of seeing the enemy before they struck.

‘I am a stone. I harbor no fear. I feel no pain. I know no death.’

Her weapon drawn, she silently advanced down the ruined hotel corridor scanning the darkness for hidden dangers. The glint of her blade shone in the pale moonlight of a passing broken window when the young beauty came to a soundless halt.

‘Something’s close…’

Her eyes narrowed upon the turn in the corridor where another hall had intersected it on the right.

‘Around the corner…’

Swiftly she met the adjacent wall with her back moving slowly toward the offending presence.

‘Just a little closer, you vile piece of garbage...’

She came to the edge of the wall. All she need do is turn and strike, quick and certain.

‘All right… one… two…’

In one fluid motion, the young woman turned and brought her sword down at blinding speed upon her unseen enemy.

"Whoa!" a familiar voice cried out.

The soldier recognized the voice and stopped her attack mere inches from felling her comrade.

"Miroku!?" she cried suppressing her voice as much as she could. "What the hell is wrong with you? I almost cut your damn head off."

"Excuse me?" Miroku answered back. "If I am correct, you orders were to wait until I arrived before you went in, Songo. I hope I don’t need to remind you who is the senior officer here, and where, may I ask, is Kagome, Lieutenant? "

Songo answered her commander with the back of her head. "She is checking out the west end."

"By herself?" Miroku snapped.

"Oh don’t be such an ass. Goshinki was already contained, and intel says that he was the strongest thing down here. Besides, it isn’t like Kagome can’t take care of herself."

"Come on Songo… Don’t be like that. I am just looking out for you two."

"Can we do this another time, Commander? In case you hadn’t noticed we are still in an active demon nest."

Songo’s harsh words hung in the air with no reply. She secretly winced as she realized the hostility of her voice. It didn’t help that he was her fiancee as well as her squad leader.

‘Damn it… Why do I always have to be such a bitch?’

Songo walked back over to her companion who had resumed assembling his riffle.

"Sorry." She stated plainly as she placed her hand on his shoulder.

"It’s okay Songo. I know you mean well enou…"

"Hey, are you guys listening?" a shrill voice echoed from their ear pieces cutting Miroku’s sentence short. "Hello… where the heck are you guys?"

"Hello Kagome." Miroku answered back in a half-annoyed tone.

"It’s about time. I think I found something you guys should see. Where are you?"

"First floor, near the west exit." Miroku answered back.

"Find the stairs past the first corridor and meet me at the bottom."

"Sure, but… what the hell did you find Kagome?" Songo asked sensing the harried tone in her friend’s voice.

"It looks like these things have been here longer than we thought." A moment later the static background of audio cut off signaling that Kagome had turned off her com.

Miroku and Songo only stared at each other in confusion. There was something off in Kagome’s voice. Rather than waste time, both turned and started off toward the stairs. Who knew what she could have uncovered in the bowels of the ancient God Tree Hotel.

The two soldiers had been walking for only three minutes, but it had felt a great deal longer from ominous dark within the deceptively long stairway. For minutes more they descended into the looming dark listening to the growing signs of age and decay.

"Kagome wasn’t kidding." Songo said looking back up the way she had come. "We must be at least 50 meters underground."

"I think I see something." Miroku whispered.

At last they had come to the end of the winding stair. The room they found themselves in seemed to be carved from the earth itself, jagged and perforated with gnarled roots. Echoing drips came from the condensation on the walls while a dank musk choked the air.

"There you two are!" An irritated voice announced sending the duo into a momentary paralysis.

"Wha!… Kagome! You scared the crap out of us."

"I’ve been waiting for you two for ten minutes."

"Keep your voice down you two." Miroku chided. "What did you find Kagome?"

Kagome simply turned and pointed to a small corner of the room. It was barely visible but there was passage there. So dark, even the illumination from her flashlight failed so reveal it’s contents. Songo was the first to approach, but was halted as her foot caught on the edge of an unseen obstacle.

"What the hell?" she murmured as she turned her light to the floor. Before her lay the broken remains of a heavy steel door. Judging by it’s relative size, Songo guessed that it must belong to the entry before her.

"It looks like it’s been ripped off the hinges." Miroku observed.

Slowly they ventured into the ruined doorway to find some clue as to what had been behind the door that now lay in pieces behind them. As their lights scanned the shadowed chamber, Kagome’s light came to a stop over a flat section in the rear wall.

"There."

The other two focused their own lights on the section to reveal a set of heavy restraints that had been ripped apart. Chains with links as large as a fist were sprawled over the floor.

‘Strange…’ Miroku thought. ‘The breaks in the door and chains are all fresh, but why would something this strong wait until now to escape?’

"What do you think did this?" Kagome chimed in.

"Whatever did this..." Songo announced looking outside the chamber and down the adjacent hall. Miroku and Kagome exited the holding cell and looked to where Songo was directing her light.

"Oh my God." Kagome softly gasped. The hall which they now faced was littered with the countless bodies of the spider demons they had similarly encountered outside.

‘There are so many.’ Songo thought to herself. ‘How could it have…’

"Wait." Miroku said as he advanced toward one of the piles of shredded demon parts.

"Miroku?" Kagome whispered. "What is it?"

The commander brought his riffle to bare on the collection of arachnid corpses. The putrid smell of dismembered demons rose swiftly to his nose causing him to shield his face from their noxious fume.

The girls’ eyes fell upon their squad leader who was now hunched over the stinking pile of flesh flinging it’s contents to either side of him.

"What is it Miroku?" Kagome asked again.

"It looks human." He announced curtly.

Songo held back a shocked flinch. ‘What?’

The girls joined his side to help clear the debris. Piece at a time, the trio uncovered the body of what appeared to be a young man dressed in a collection of tattered rags. He was covered head to toe in a thick coat of blood including his long matted hair.

"Who do you think he is?" Kagome asked her friends.

"Not one of ours." Songo stated flatly. "Just look at that haircut." The young demon slayer scanned over his dirtied appearance. Though he was covered in a thick supply of blood and ancient rags, they could still make out the distinct lines of his long, yet filthy hair. In scarce areas, they could actually see what seemed to be a grayish hue to it’s color.

"Looks like he has been here a long time… wait…"

"Miroku, what is it?" Songo asked, turning to him.

Miroku’s eye twitched as his mind had come to an alarming conclusion "It’s a demon."

"What?" Kagome and Songo cried in unison.

"Look at his head."

Glancing back, the girls beheld a pair of dog-like ears at the top of his blood soaked head. The tips of his fingers came to set of lethal claws.

"It was him?" Songo said, her voice full of confusion. ‘This thing killed all those demons? How? He looks like he couldn’t take on a stiff wind.’

"Whatever he is, he looks like he’s in pretty bad shape." Miroku said as he examined the helpless demon.
"He is barely even alive."

"I’ll fix that." Songo stated coldly as she drew her silvery blade.

"Stand down Songo." Miroku ordered in response.

"What?" the hostile soldier cried. "What the hell are you talking about Miroku? It’s a demon. Let’s just kill it and get out of here."

"I said stand down, Lieutenant." He barked. "It’s obviously disabled, and it may have some useful information. Procedure says we secure it and bring it in to be examined"

"You have got to be kidding me!" Songo shouted, angrily sheathing her sword. "Do you think the demons would show us any mercy? They murder us by the dozens, and we give them due process. That’s bullshit Miroku!"

No sooner than the beautiful woman had finished her sentence, she had turned on her heal and started off toward the exit.

"Songo!" Kagome called out after her friend.

"You two handle it on your own." She called back. "I’m getting as far from that thing as possible."

"But Songo."

"Let her go Kagome." Miroku eased putting his hand in her path. "I need help moving him, and besides, Songo has her own issues with demons."

Kagome stopped and nodded. She knew Miroku was right. Songo’s entire family was slain by demons only a year ago. True that she did not hate all of them, as the few demons that had been recruited by the institute; Shippou, Mioga, and Kilala, she tolerated well enough, but she would never let them know that. Kagome turned her attention back on the broken stranger among the numerous dead.

"You think Songo is going to be okay?" A concerned Kagome asked as Miroku caught up with her in the hall.

"She’ll be fine. I’ll talk to her, and make sure she understands."

"That’s good I suppose…Miroku?"

"Hmm?"

"What’s up? You seem worried about something."

"Oh… well, I am not exactly sure."

"What do you mean?"

"It’s just something about that demon."

Kagome turned with a confused look on her face, not knowing the meaning of his words. "Miroku." She spoke with a sly smile. "you aren’t afraid of it, are you?."

Kagome giggled at her stoic commander. She knew that the only thing he was afraid of was his girlfriend. Throughout his entire command of the unit, she had known him to be more courageous than many veterans far older that he. But her laughter soon stopped when she noted the worried look in his expression.

"His wounds…" the enigmatic young man murmured to himself. "The injuries he has are extensive, but they looked old. Practically all the blood on him was that of the spider demons."

Kagome, now a bit more concerned, hung on his serious words as he at last faced her to deliver his point.

"I don’t think he collapsed from his wounds. I think he simply succumbed to exhaustion."

"What are you saying Miroku?"

"If he killed all those spiders without getting injured himself, imagine what he could do when he wasn’t already weakened"