Bound Together: Danketsu--Ch4

Chapter 4 – Confusion

Kouga’s feet pounded heavily on the forest floor, sending up a flurry of dust and debris that was instantly swept up into the wind that swirled up in a furious tornado around his body.  Over the sound of his own passage, he could hear the rapid tread of the rest of his tribe and the wolves that accompanied them.  He chanced a glance on either side of him and just barely caught the glow of pale flesh passing between the thick tree trunks.  Satisfied that they were keeping up with him, he allowed himself to speed up a bit.  The forest was nearly pitch black on this chilly, moonless night, and he plunged head on into a speed-induced blackness filled with dangers that only his nose, ears, and keen youkai senses could avoid.

He wasn’t afraid of the dangers ahead.  Fallen tree trunks, unseen youkai prowling the night, human traps—these were all things he had encountered in the past.  These things couldn’t make his heart hammer like a cornered rabbit and lace his muscles with ice.  They didn’t fill him with this shameful desire to run as fast as he could and leave his comrades and family far behind him.  No.  These perils were known and could be explored with reason and logical thinking.

The thing tearing through the forest in pursuit of his people was completely exempt from these rules.

They had had no warning.  Well, that wasn’t entirely true; scouts patrolling the borders of his land had reported hearing youkai fighting a few days ago.  It was nothing being concerned about, and he had treated it as such.  Survival of the fittest was the morality of this savage land, and the lesser youkai were always killing each other off to gain more power.  Even when the skirmishes had crossed over the borders into Yourouzoku territory he continued to dismiss the fears of the scouts.  As the leader of a nearly extinct species of youkai, specifically one as proud as the Wolf Tribe, it was his duty as leader to stand strong and resolute.  Naraku and his cast-off bitch Kagura had not only wiped out much of the tribe but had driven a stake of fear deep into the hearts of his people.  Even after Naraku was defeated and he returned to take control of the tribe, they still cowered and ran at the slightest sign of danger.  

Perhaps if had paid more mind to their fears, which would have been reasonable for once, they wouldn’t be running for their lives from an unseen, unfathomable evil that hunted their every footstep with ruthless speed and cunning.

The first wave of screams—the only clue that anyone had that something was wrong—had risen from the northernmost extensions of the vast cave system several hours after sunset.  Those initial screams of terror and pain echoed madly off of the high limestone walls in a deafening cacophony.  Chaos had ensued immediately as the tribe awoke and scrambled blindly for the exits, trampling those who fell to the ground.  He had had only enough time to rouse Ayame and see that she and their two young cubs, one no more than an infant, escaped into the forest unharmed.  He had stayed behind as long as he could, searching for stragglers and the injured in the fires that quickly rose from the blazing kindling that had been scattered by their hasty departure.  He couldn’t really explain what had happened next, only that all of the hair on his arms and legs had stood rigid and every instinct he possessed had screamed at him to run and not look back.

And now here he was, tracing a blind path down the slopes of the mountain, unsure of what was going on and who among his tribe was still alive.  He growled in frustration and dug his fingernails into his palms, wishing desperately that he still possessed the Shikon shards or the Goraishi, the claws imbued with the power of the ancient Yourouzoku.  

A hazy silvery shape consumed by its own whirlwind of dust and leaves shot through the trees beside him and Kouga matched pace with it.  

“Kenji!”

The whirlwind stopped and dissipated, revealing a tall, lanky teenage boy with a longish mass of thick auburn hair tied up in a ponytail.  A short silver fur was wrapped around his waist and a short cape of the same was fastened with shiny silver buckles to his armor.  The boy’s long silvery tail lashed fretfully from one hip to the other.  The fear melted somewhat from his large blue eyes as he caught sight of Kouga beside him.

“Kouga-aniki, what happened?”

Kouga grimaced.  “I was hoping you knew.  How did you manage to get out?”

“You know the cave where I used to paint?  I jumped out through the skylight.”

“Did you see anyone else?”  

The boy shook his head miserably.  “There was too much smoke.  I could barely see or smell.”  He looked up suddenly, concern furrowing his brow.  “Ayame-neesan and the cubs, are they ok?”

Kouga opened his mouth to reply but was cut off as a high-pitched female squeal of terror rose from the darkness somewhere behind them.  Both wolves gasped in unison as their sharp ears placed the voice’s owner.

“Nee-san!” Kenji shouted.  Kouga quickly grabbed hold of him and forced the struggling boy still.

“Run ahead and try to round up all the survivors.  Lead them to the summer caves.”

Kenji shook his head and began to thrash about even more violently in Kouga’s arms.  “No!  Nee-san is in danger!”

Another scream followed by the thundering crash of a tree rose from the depths of the forest and Kouga growled angrily. “Damnit, Kenji! I’m ordering you as your leader!  Now get up there and take control of them before anyone else dies!  Do you understand?!” Kouga punctuated the question with a rough shake.  Kenji glanced towards the place where they had last heard Ayame scream, then met Kouga’s eyes and nodded silently.

Kouga released him and slapped roughly at his armor.  “Well, what are you waiting for, baka?  Get going now!”  Kenji’s mouth wavered momentarily before setting into a hard line of resolution.  He disappeared into the distance, whirlwind kicking up leaves and an anguished howl rising from his lungs.

Kouga took a shuddery breath then set off in the opposite direction.  The eerie silence that had encompassed the forest before was now completely shattered.  Battle cries and screams of fear and pain now rose from a small clearing up ahead.  The trees began to thin out as he approached, revealing the vast tower of smoke rising into the dark sky from the ancestral caves.  He didn’t notice it though.  He was blind and deaf to everything around him except for signs of his mate and children.  How could he have passed them and not noticed?  Dread gripped at his heart with icy claws and each step he took seemed to last an eternity.

With a fearsome roar, he leapt into the clearing, all qualms and fears put aside.  Save for the splintered trunk of a fallen tree embedded with the tiny green forms of Ayame’s leaf daggers, the clearing was completely empty.  Kouga stopped in his tracks and glanced around confused.  What was going on here?

“Kouga!”

Kouga’s head whipped wildly around to the source of the voices.  Ginta and Hakkaku, the latter bearing a girl of a similar age to the other child on his back and the former leading a pregnant woman by the hand, materialized beside him.  From between them emerged the figure of a small boy, silky black hair askew above a thick headband.    At the sight of the boy, Kouga heaved a shaky sigh of relief.

   “Otou-sama!” The child’s face immediately screwed up into a tearful pout, and with a piteous cry he ran forward with out-stretched arms.

“Jomei,” Kouga whispered as he sank to his knees and enfolded the wailing child in his arms.  One trembling hand rose to cup the back of the boy’s small skull, fingers massaging at the dark hair more in an effort to convince himself that his son really was safe then in an effort to comfort the boy.

“And my daughter?” Kouga asked, blue eyes searching the weary faces of his comrades.  The two looked back into the shelter of the bushes.  Hakkaku’s mate rose cautiously from the greenery.  A small, squirming bundle of dark fur was held tightly in her arms. Kouga gave a strained grin and rose to his feet, breaking his son’s embrace.

“Where’s Ayame?”

Ginta and Hakkaku exchanged nervous glances.  “We ran into her back at the river and she told us to look after Jomei and Yuriko before running back towards the caves to find you,” Ginta supplied, eyes searching Kouga’s expression with unconcealed apprehension.

“She’s fighting something out there, Kouga.” Hakkaku continued as he shifted the weight of his own daughter on his back.  “I don’t know if she--”

Kouga shot past him, sending a spray of torn up moss and pine needles in his face and nearly knocking him over.  Within in several seconds Kouga found himself running through the tattered, debris strewn wasteland that used to be part of the forest that surrounded the ancestral caves.  Sharp splinters of wood rose from the shattered trunks of once proud oaks and pines.  The distant cries of bloodlust and pain were a painful clamor in his ears that only increased as he neared the battle.  

A small, lithe figure, clad in white fur, suddenly darted in front of him and he dug his heels into the ground to prevent a collision.  Ayame chanced a small glance at him before giving a ferocious cry and sending a cloud of leaf daggers flying directly at him.  Kouga, a startled yell issuing from his lips, dropped to the ground.  The tiny blades whizzed and whined above him, a few slicing through the protruding end of his ponytail to tink harmlessly off the back of his armor.

“Ayame no baka!” he bellowed angrily at her as he jumped to his feet, all fear forgotten.  Ayame blinked at him as if she had just now noticed his presence.  “Are you blind, you moron?” he continued, stalking towards her.  

“Kouga!  Look out!” Her eyes widened and she pointed beyond his right shoulder.  Kouga looked back, heart leaping in his chest.  Something large and immensely strong smacked into the side of his face with a speed that even he couldn’t match.  There was a sickening feeling of vertigo as he flew through the air and then an abrupt, bone-crunching stop as he collided with a painfully solid object.  He drew a ragged gasp of air into his lungs, only to have it knocked from them as he fell face-forward onto the ground. Distantly, he could hear Ayame screaming his name over and over, and he struggled to regain his footing.  The night landscape swirled in a hazy blur before his eyes before being completely engulfed by a churning mass of black specks.  Collapsing to his belly again, he fell into the yawning void.      


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