InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Price of Vengeance ❯ Chapter Forty-Six: Madness ( Chapter 47 )

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Rumiko Takahashi's characters or stories. This story is for private entertainment purposes only.

WARNING: Language, some dark imagery and (to be cautious) lime. Word edit on ff.net.

Chapter Forty-Six (Madness)

"HIDEKI!"

His summoning bellow didn't bring---at first---the result he wanted. His volume had been loud enough to shake up the birds in the trees a ways off---making them fly out with a flap of angry wings, chittering and cawing their distress as they flew off like their tail-feathers had caught fire.

There was no similar disturbance coming from inside the old fart's cave.

Growling his impatience, Koga stomped inside the damn rock.

"Where the hell are you, Crack-Tooth!"

There was a darker shape moving in the shadowed interior. "Damn it, boy! Can't you put a muzzle on it and let an old youkai get some sleep?"

Eyes narrowing, Koga waited for his keener sight to adjust from the brightness of the waning day outside to the the inner blackness of Hideki's unlit cave. He could barely make out the old fart who was couched on furred pelts in the back.

His sight returned as he waited for the healer to unbend his old bones out of bed and come closer to where he stood at the cave mouth, blocking the dwindling daylight.

"You could move, puppy." Hideki grumbled at him, his raspy voice filled with more gravel than normal. "I need to see to make a light."

Fangs flashed. "You can see fine, you old grouch."

There were more grumbles out of the old fart, who finally snapped out a light from scraping one of his special sticks against the rocky wall and, carefully holding the jumpy flame, lit both torches that stood bracketed on either side of the oblong cave.

Hideki took his time dragging one of his furs off of his bed and carefully putting it on one side of the cold fire-pit. He didn't offer Koga one, but the ookami youkai had no problem with snatching up a pelt of his own and sprawling on it across from the old healer.

Hideki eyed him with smug amusement, and startled the hell out of him with his blunt words. "So you finally noticed."

Koga's thick brows came crashing down as his ice blue eyes spat fire at the old fart. "You knew, and said NOTHING?"

"Quit howling, boy." Hideki growled back. "You want every damn grey wolf to hear you?"

*You're just asking for it, old man...*

His voice quieter, but holding no less irritation, Koga demanded again, "Why the hell didn't you let me know?"

"Well..." Hideki scratched the back of his grey head in a habit that spoke more of Hakkaku than Ginta. "I didn't know until a few days ago."

Koga growled. *A few DAYS ago?*

"And what would it help, really?" Hideki shrugged. "The wolves know instinctively, and I'm sure some of the older wolf-brothers do too. It's been a long time since we had a female---youkai---in our caverns. Most of the young whelps wouldn't understand until the Gathering started."

"What about her? Shouldn't she know?" Koga didn't like the old man's reasoning, but the old fart surprised him by his next words.

"I don't know if she should. She's not one to like losing control, you know. She's been through some rough handling, that one. She's strong, she survived, but the news that she's going into heat would just unsettle her and make her afraid of it."

Koga glared. "She should know, though. She should be given the choice, damn it."

Hideki snorted. "What choice is there when the blood's is up? It's whoever's strongest, whoever's fastest, you know that. Whoever can defeat the others and claim her."

Koga growled, but remained silent. Hideki was right.

"She doesn't deserve it."

"Deserve what?" A bushy grey brow shot up.

Koga heaved a long sigh of irritation before biting out, "Katashi."

Hideki growled low in his throat. "So that's why that foul upstart has been hanging around. He wants her, does he?"

Koga gave a sharp nod, his blue eyes icy with the thought.

Hideki eyed him for a long moment. "Why the hell do you care, whelp?"

Gods, the old fart was asking for it!

"She saved my men." He reminded the old healer sharply. "And that---wolf---is too hard for her. She'd be better off with anyone else."

"You thinking of trying? You hang around here long enough, boy, and you'll get caught up in it."

Koga growled with frustration. Hideki was right. When a female went into heat, every damn wolf in close vicinity went with her, whether he wanted to or not. Ookami nature asserted itself, and a youkai had no choice in the matter.

"I'm not looking myself. I already have a woman."

Hideki snorted, showing just what he thought of THAT. "A ningen."

"A miko." Koga returned with a warning bite of menace.

Hideki's gaze turned fierce. "You think that miko would make a strong alpha's mate and be able to stand up for herself in the rough life of a wolf pack?"

Koga growled. Even old Hideki shouldn't dare to question him or his choices.

Hideki scowled, wisely saying no more on THAT matter. Abruptly changing subjects, the old ookami asked bluntly, "So what do you plan to do then? Warn her?"

Koga let go of his fury; the old Crack-Tooth thought too much of himself, simply because he had been around longer than anyone else...

"Yes." He growled. "I'll warn her in the morning, and give her a choice. If she wants to stay, and find a mate, so be it. If she doesn't, I'll take her off and dump her where no damn wolf, including that walking dog-turd Katashi, could find her. Either way, I'm off for the hills. I'm not risking falling into THAT mess when she does go into heat."

Hideki just snorted, showing his dubious opinion of THAT plan.

Koga just glared. "She could just settle down with one of the clan. Ginta, maybe. Or Hakkaku."

"You think they have the strength to fight off Katashi?" Hideki demanded, his voice rough with cynicism.

"You never know."

Again, Hideki just snorted.

*~*~*~*~*

Koga had taken the time out to really watch the wolves---and youkai---who were crowding around Kagura's chosen lair. Now that he was aware of it, he couldn't believe he had missed all the signals. It had just never occurred to him that that damn female would have the claws to go into heat. She hadn't ever done so before, why should she now?

One idea Hideki had advanced was that the wind witch's body had never really functioned correctly until her heart had been returned to her. The natural cycles of a youkai female had been put on "hold", so to speak, as her heart had been, and had never manifested until she was made whole. The continued stress of major wounds had twice put it off, perhaps, though he didn't buy that one too much.

Whatever it was, the problem had just been dumped in his lap, and he couldn't ignore it now.

*Damn it all.*

He'd spent a long, sleepless night over the dilemma, and couldn't think of anything better than just telling her outright and letting her decide what she wanted to do about it. You couldn't stop nature, but you could avoid it. Watching the way the wolves kept growling and snarling among themselves, breaking out, occaisionally, in snapping attacks, told him all too clearly that he would be warning her just in the nick of time to do something about it.

He'd had to use his powerful fists quite a few times during the night, breaking up fights among the furballs, laying out on both sides. He had even had to cuff a few grey ones, who were audacious enough to try and get closer to the wind witch's cave. He had snarled angrily at Katashi, who had watched him from afar with a knowing glint in his dog-pee eyes but did nothing to defend his scavengers from Koga's heavy fists.

*Damn arrogant bastard...*

He'd made the rounds, growling over the half-assed attention that his own youkai, set to guarding his land against any stupid northern filth getting out of line, were putting into their jobs. He'd knocked a few heads around, impatient with their distraction, but damn, he could hardly blame them. Now that he recognized it for what it was, her faint scent seemed to be lingering every damn where. No wonder his men were distracted...

*Damn it all.*

It was just as the early rays of the sun were first creeping across the browning crags of his rocky lands that he finally made his way to the kaze youkai's caves. Normally, she would not arise this early, but he didn't dare waste another moment in waking her ass up and letting her know. The faint aura of spicy allure had grown during the night, and he knew he didn't have much time...

Snarling his way through the damn mob who scrambled out of his way with tailed-up yelps only after he kicked them out of it, and came immediately back to fill in the space after he walked past, he stopped for a moment outside the darkened mouth of her own cave. Usually the wolves were piled up in there as well, the lucky few who could fit lining the small oval-shaped cavern from wall to wall and almost burying her small frame under their furry bodies like living blankets. Gods, how could he not have noticed it all?

There were no wolves in there now. Not a single one.

There was a howl in the distance, and everything froze in anticipation as that call came eerily on the chill morning breeze.

*DAMN.*

He'd run out of time.

*~*~*~*~*

She had spent a restless night alone, her dreams troubled with the nagging wisps of phantom nightmares soaring across her sleeping mind like haunting ghosts of the past. She could not tolerate the thought of anyone near her, and had sent her nightly escort of wolfish friends packing with a snarling rage that made her feel slightly guilty. She missed them, a little, after she had ordered their abrupt exit, and had spent a lonely night wishing she could summon them back and curl herself among the soft fur and warm bodies, cradled in and among them like a child. Her dreams had not been troubled in months---perhaps it had been their presence that had warded off the nightmares that disturbed her rest.

Whenever she thought of calling them to her side, though, the restless frustration came again, the unknown source of seeded anger irritating her even more, and she would grit her teeth and turn over on her side, willing the anger away.

It had worked in the past, but why did it not seem to now?

She was warm, too warm. Feverish. Hot. Angry. Hungry...

She sneered at herself, loathing the anger and strange desires that washed over her. *What is wrong with me? Why am I feeling so...*

She could not even name what troubled her, what feelings were spilling over her. *I cannot stand this!* She screamed in her mind, claws digging into the soft fleshy part of her palms. She wanted to hit something, claw someone, seek the warm blood of enemies under her talons...

That disgusting thought was utterly ridiculous. *I am Kagura.* She snarled to herself, wanting to identify who she was in this sea of unknown emotion that broiled and raged inside of her.

Her senses were heightened, raw. She felt itchy and trapped, confined. She longed for the freedom of the wind, longed to flee from this madness that was trying to consume her...

An icy shaft of dread shot down her spine. *Naraku. Could he be the cause of this...this...unease? This madness? Could he be trying to consume my mind and make me crazed?*

No...gods, please, not that...

Fear gripped her soul, and she jumped back into a defensive pose as she sensed a Presence outside of her cave, standing at the mouth of it. *Where are my wolves? Where is my protection?*

Why was she seeking them? They set her nerves on edge, they disturbed the peace of her mind, she didn't want them! She couldn't stand their proximity right now!

*What is happening to me?*

Her eyes glowed with the deepest crimson, and she snarled as that Presence stepped inside, her fingers curling, the knife-points of her claws extending in fury at the intrusion.

*What is it? Who are you? What do you want?*

What was happening to her?

Her scrambling mind caught the icy fire of light blue eyes narrowed on her, the wide expanse of a hard chest revealed by breasted armor, the long length of rippling muscle that flexed and froze under each step of his powerful legs. Strong arms crossed over his chest, and he stood there, tall and arrogant...dominating...male...

*Leave me ALONE.* She cried with one part of her mind, while another ached to be closer to him...subdued...overcome...

*I am KAGURA.* She spat at that alien thought. She was the Wind! She would never be subdued by anyone, she would not allow it!

"What is happening to me?" Her eyes were open and staring, wide with fear and anger and the madness of her blood. She had not realized she had whimpered that weak thought aloud, and she growled after it, angry over her weakness. She was not weak...

"Kagura." His voice stirred something in her. She wanted to cling to it, claw away from it, run from and run to....

She recognized his voice, and she cut through the madness that would wash away her soul and managed to utter his name in a hoarse whisper of faint sound. "Koga."

That single word of recognition was a thread of sanity she could cling to in a world of sudden chaos. She held tightly to it, and the glow diminished slightly from her eyes. A spark of awareness returned to them, although she could barely keep the consuming frenzy at bay for long.

She must warn him...she must warn the others...her wolves could not die from Naraku's evil plot...she was certain that the dark hanyou was reaching out with long claws to still the life within her with consuming madness, hoping to use her to wreak havoc on the clan...

"Something is wrong..." Her short, gasping breaths were harsh to her own ears. Her heart fluttered in her chest, which heaved with her desperation. "With me....Naraku..."

The ookami clan leader stiffened at that name, his blue eyes fire and ice.

"I think he is trying to...kill me...consume me...take control...I don't know if...I...can resist..."

*Help me...*

The fire diminished, and there was a flicker of...pity?...in the deepening blue depths.

"It is not Naraku." He said, his voice deep with odd intonations.

He was wrong. What else could it be? This madness was trying to consume her...Naraku's madness...

She must make him understand the threat she was to them all!

"No...you must understand...he is crazed...he desires your death...your Jewel shards...he would use me to kill you...all of you...keep them away from me! I would not hurt them! They are my brothers!" Her eyes closed with the sudden knowledge of it. They WERE her brothers, she did not want to hurt them.

"Please." She whispered desperately, the tears sparking in the corner of her tightly closed eyes.

"Kagura." His voice was sharp, and she opened her eyes, her fury glittering crimson blood in their depths.

*He will not listen to me!*

"You must listen." He told her, his voice deep and commanding. "Naraku has nothing to do with this."

"You don't understand..." Her chest heaved with despair. He must, he must understand! The madness would not be reined in for long, and then there would be no chance to warn him...to warn any of them...

There was a scramble at the mouth of her cave, and Hideki's graveled voice suddenly broke in with his usual bluntness.

"You are going into heat, girl. Nothing else."

She froze as her mind took in those harsh words.

*I do not understand...*

"What do you mean?" She whispered, her eyes wide pools of fear.

Hideki growled under his breath with impatience. "Do you know nothing, girl? You are youkai! Your cycle has come!"

Her nostrils flared in fear. What did he mean, her cycle? What if she were youkai? What was he trying to tell her?

"What do you mean?" She repeated, dreading his response.

The old wolf's eyes were compassionate. "You really don't know, do you, girl?"

Kagura's fearful gaze traveled to Koga's, who remained impassive, his usually expressive face frozen into stillness. He watched her, though, and waited.

Hideki came up beside her, and extended a gnarled hand to lay it comfortingly on her shoulder. She flinched under the contact, her skin tingling and burning, her nerves raw.

*What is wrong with me?* She wailed inside, afraid of the knowledge.

"You're youkai, girl. Eventually, you would go into heat. All female youkai do, as their blood and cycle determines. Your time has come."

"But what do you mean?" She cried out desperately. "I don't understand! What is wrong with me?"

He patted her shoulder, and she tried not to flinch away from the kind gesture. "You cannot fight it, girl. The urge to mate is strong."

Mate? What did he mean, mate? She did not wish to mate! Horrible memories washed over her, awful memories of Naraku's cruel rape of her flesh, her mind closing down under the ravaging appetite of his penchant for torture and pain...

"No..." Her eyes grew unfocused, the fear and dread consuming her.

*Please, no...*

"You cannot deny the call of your blood, girl. Your natural instincts will soon take over, and you cannot fight them." Hideki's grip tightened on her shoulder and jostled her gently.

The blood thundered in her ears, and she shook with terror. A faint sound came from outside of the darkened closeness of her cave, the howl of a wolf penetrating her consciousness and making the madness within answer...

*No...no...please...no...*

"Do not deny yourself, girl. You could be lost to the madness of your kaze nature, forever. Do not fight it. Join with it, and you will survive it." Hideki growled at her, his eyes concerned for her soul.

"I...can't..." She said brokenly, her red eyes like washed jewels with the tears that, even now, she refused to shed.

"You must." His voice was hard and unrelenting.

Another wolf cried lonely and desperate outside.

She bowed her head, her body trembling with awakening awareness. The turmoil of frenzied madness was rising up, demanding she bow to it, her nature.

"Come." That harsh command came from Koga, who had stood silent through Hideki's revelation. She kept her eyes down, her manner lost. She could not fight it. She could only survive it...

Under Hideki's gentle prodding, she took the first step forward. Dully, she followed after the ookami chief, her eyes on the rocky ground under her bare feet. Everything was overwhelmingly close and sensitive...the rough ground that scraped under her toes, the feel of Hideki's calloused hand on her shoulder, guiding her outside of the caves...

Her nostrils flared at the overwhelming scent of ookami, youkai and furred, and she paused just outside the cave mouth, her head jerking up and her eyes widening into frightened crimson pools as she realized that they were all there, staring at her, watching her with an intensity that sent a strange awareness flooding through her body and freezing her mind in overwhelmed terror.

Numerous eyes were on her, staring and glowing, the madness in her mind glaring back at her from the glinting eyes of multiple ookami. The small hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and her flesh goose-bumped with chilled awareness of the consuming lust in their eyes. Brightening gold on four-legged brethren and streaks of scarlet glowing from the penetrating gaze of youkai brothers...she could not stand it, she could not...

Her red eyes swept desperately to Hideki, who would not meet her glance. The old wolf was even staring at her, making her shiver under the hardness of his gaze before shaking himself out of it and squeezing her shoulder tight. His harsh voice whispered in her ear, trying to ease her fear.

"Soon you will not see it, girl. There will only be the chase..."

What did he mean? What was going to happen to her? She wanted to cry out with the unknowing frustration of it all, claw her way to freedom and run like the Winds she was formed from. Her blood raced with the desire of the thought, and she was almost consumed with it, deliberately unaware of the countless eyes that watched her every move.

There was a dark growl beside her, as Hideki warned off the tall youkai who approached her with too much familiarity.

Kagura froze as a smug whisper heated across her ear, making her skin crawl and her mind scream in denial.

"You will be mine, kaze bitch."

*No!*

She hissed at him, her claws curling and her eyes heating with fury. "Never!" She denied him. She would never submit to that arrogant dog!

"You have no say in the matter." His smug whisper made her blood boil, and she spun around, freeing herself from Hideki's grasp. Low growls were echoed around her, and she snarled at him.

"NEVER!"

His eyes were glowing with a reddish light across the blazing yellow glow of them. He inhaled her scent, deliberately stepping nearer, his fangs flashing. She felt suddenly afraid, and stepped back away---

And into the hard expanse of another male's chest. She jumped, but strong hands gripped her upper arms in an immovable hold. She shivered, the fear eating inside of her. The growling descant of the angry ookami who watched overwhelmed her senses. The turmoil of her blood rose up, wanting to swallow her mind in consuming madness...

"The Gathering has not started, Katashi. Return to your place." The harsh voice was of Koga, and she shivered under the awakened sense of that deep, rich voice. She desired...she desired none of this...

The grey wolf-brother's smile broadened with a knowing look. "Soon enough, and she will be mine."

*No...* She did not realize that she had whispered that plea of denial, but Koga stiffened behind her.

"That remains to be seen." There was a hard edge to the ookami's voice, and she felt his claws clench slightly against her pale skin.

"Are you challenging me, Koga?" There was a dangerous light in the ookami's yellow eyes, the red glow expanding.

"You are hardly worth my time, northern dog. I could out-run you any day." The deep rumble behind her made her shiver in reaction.

Red streaks flashed through the grey wolf's eyes. "Only because you have the help of your Jewel shards, cub. Without them, you are nothing."

His claws now dug into her skin, bruising it, and she could not hold back the soft whimper of pain that escaped her. Immediately, he eased his grip, and she could not hear their growling speech as she became aware of the slow circles his thumbs made over the spots of her bruising, unconsciously easing them. She shivered, for quite another reason, and her mind screamed at her as the unknown feeling of desire washed over her anew.

*No...no...no...*

"You seek her yourself, then." Katashi's eyes narrowed as she became suddenly aware that they still snarled at each other from over her bent head.

"No." His hands tightened slightly, and her eyes widened with a strange sense of hurt outrage. Why would he not seek her? She was youkai, she was female, he was youkai, and male...

*I am Kagura, and he is Koga. There could never be anything between us!* She told her more primitive nature severely, her eyes glowing with anger.

There was a sudden cold smile behind her, and the icy blue eyes flashed. "I will just make sure YOU will not claim her."

Katashi snarled. "You can try, easterner. But only a dishonorable bastard would flaunt an unfair advantage!"

Koga actually let her go, stepping away from her. Kagura nearly collapsed, but Hideki was there to support her weakness. As the two ookami youkai had argued over her, the others had gathered in, and she was besieged by the sensation of being constricted and closed off. She wanted to escape them, to flee their knowing eyes, their bated breath of anticipation.

Something gleamed bright pink and white out of the corner of her eye, and she turned her head sharply to track that light. Koga had calmly, deliberately, pulled the Jewel shards from his fur-clad calves and held them in his palm, his blue eyes darkening with malice as Katashi's lips thinned.

"Keep these safe." Koga growled at Hideki, who opened his gnarled palm to receive the sparkling Shikon shards. His blue eyes never left Katashi's, who glistened blood-red with challenge.

Hideki's other hand tightened on Kagura's shoulder, and she jerked under it. Katashi stepped forward slightly, his flashing fangs and the knowing gleam in his blazing eyes making her flinch away even as the madness sucked away at her resistance.

*No...* She still tried to fight it. She would never consent to him...never submit...she was the Wind...she would leave these petty demons behind her...they thought her weak, easily caught...she would show them...she was strong...she would escape their raging lust...she was stronger than any of them...none would catch her, tame her, take her...

There was a stir through the watching crowd of ookami, nostrils expanding as they took in her spiked scent. The madness was filling and surging through her, heating her blood to boiling fury....they would never...never...

Eyes glowed, red and yellow, gleaming in the frenzied madness that filled her vision. She did not realize that Hideki's hand had fallen from her arm, that she stood alone and glowing in the center of them. Her eyes were vacant of awareness, the blood color glowing with rubied fire. Her skin glistened with a white light, her demonic aura expanding and growing as the Winds claimed her mind and swallowed her senses with their primal demand. A wind swooped down, stirring the long ends of midnight hair, making it dance sensuously on the breeze. The fire grew within her, claiming her soul as possession and turning her desire to one goal...freedom...

*I am the WIND.* She screamed at them, her nature calling through. The ookami surrounding her parted slightly, allowing her an avenue of escape. She snarled, eyes glittering, and defied them to approach. She would tear them limb from limb if any dared touch her! She would not submit! Never submit! She was FREE!

She was up and away, her small feet carrying her away from them. The ookami stood frozen for a moment, the suddenness of her departure stunning them, before, with howls and roaring calls of awakening, they scrambled after, one goal fixed in their minds...

********************

A/N: Hmm, is there a lemon in the near future? O.O

Sorry for the long author's note, but I'm behind in replying to my email and will be for another few days. This is just to say thanks for all the awesome support.

Special thanks to Vyncent, who ALWAYS keeps me brimming with new ideas and revelations, JaznGurl for all of your help, AmyF. and Kilala81, who keep me rofl (rolling on floor laughing), Belledaynight for upping the hentai, Fairia13 for some great ideas on Sango & InuYasha in the last chapter and in the near future, Silver Fang and Tsuki Yume for spurring me on (wounded snails...lol) with updates, Ice Flakes for wondering when Kagura and Kouga would be hooking up (hope this chappie defined "Gathering"), Majo: how SesshouMaru decides to spell his name is beyond this Fate's ability to argue (I wanna live a little while longer...). Puffin: In answer to your question, Kagome is roughly two/three months along by this chapter. Diva, great insight on Kagome (zipping lips ~.~), Kura, I'm glomping my wall-scroll of Sessy as well...dreamy sigh, Striking Falcon...LOL on Katashi, and Jasmine Fields...grin. Thank you for the supportive reviews Lavender Valentine, Neo Neko Youkai, Bbrat, Sweets 427, Pam, Shedevil, and Crumpled Paper. Take care and next two chappies are being edited now!