Fate of the Tsubasa - Chapter 7

"Hey! Dogfly! Ammy, d'you think she's even still alive?"
Kal's senses were coming back to her slowly. She could hear a voice faintly, and for a moment she thought she was dead, but within seconds she realised that that high-pitched voice was all too familiar.
Owww… she groaned, forcing her eyes to open. The world was blurry and she couldn't see much except for a green light bouncing in front of her…
"Okay, good, you're still living," Issun said, sounding rather unsympathetic. "Sheesh, you sure get beaten up a lot, don't ya?"
Kal barely had the strength to answer him. Now her vision was starting to return she could see that she was lying in a pool of blood on one of the paths next to the beach, and she fought for memories to try and remember why.
Then it all came back to her.
"Rao…" she rasped, too tired to form full sentences but hoping either Issun or Amaterasu, who was standing nearby, would be able to pick up the warning. "Demon…"
"Right, we gotta get on to Ankoku temple!" Issun gasped as if he'd just remembered something. "Hurry, Ammy, we gotta save the busty babe from that demon!"
What? Kal tried to recover more energy to speak, but Issun was already hopping back onto the wolf's head. "Wait…"
But the wolf and poncle were already too far away to hear.
"Damn it," Kal growled quietly to herself. She had no idea what Issun had been talking about, but it sounded as if they thought they knew something… what, she didn't know. She could have warned them about Ninetails but they'd been in too much of a hurry to wait and listen to her.
Glancing around, she couldn't help but grimace; the sand around her was stained with more blood than she thought possible, and now that her senses were returning to her again she could feel the multiple wounds Ninetails had given her stinging, most of them still bleeding slightly, and the left side of her face was bruised from where the rock had hit her.
I'll just hope no one finds me until I have enough strength to get outta here, she thought, somewhat ashamed. She hoped Waka wouldn't randomly appear nearby, although she hadn't seen him that much lately…
He probably wouldn't care anyway.
Not that I really mind, she huffed, unsure whether that was what she really thought, or whether she was just trying to convince herself she did.

As soon as she had enough energy to move, Kal managed to drag herself over to the base of the cliffs and took shelter among the rocks, hoping no one would come looking for her. The trail of blood would be rather a giveaway… still, she just had to rest here for a while and then she could figure out what to do next. Remembering Abe's reaction last time she'd been wounded, returning to the Tao Troop ship didn't seem that appealing right now.
It wasn't until a while later that she heard running pawsteps not far away. She knew who that was.
Emerging from the rocks, Kal glanced around and saw Amaterasu racing along the path towards her. Ignoring the soreness of her own wounds, Kal walked slightly unevenly out onto the sand, heading them off.
Amaterasu slowed to a halt as she reached her, but she looked impatient, as if she wanted to keep moving.
"Not now, mutt, we're in a hurry!" Issun snapped.
"What's happened?" Kal asked. She had to know what they were so bothered about. Issun seemed less mocking than usual, and an uneasy thought wormed it's way into her head…
"We're on our way to Watcher's Cape," Issun told her impatiently. "And we have to get there before the sun goes down or Oni Island will vanish along with that demon lord guy and Himiko will have died for nothing!"
"Himiko… is dead…?" Kal gasped, the words freezing in her mouth.
Issun didn't reply.
Ninetails must have killed Himiko. If only I could have stopped him, she might have lived. Kal could feel her claws digging into the sand. She had to do something.
"You're on your way to defeat the demon lord," she said eventually. "I could help you."
"Well…" Issun muttered, sounding somewhere between uncomfortable and amused. "Erm… we appreciate the offer, but…"
Amaterasu gave a quiet bark and shook her head.
"But I have to do something!" Kal exclaimed. "Himiko must be avenged!"
"Oh come on, dogfly," Issun sighed. "I know you think you can just stride on over and defeat that fox wretch, but it ain't as simple as that. Let me and Ammy do it. Leave it to the experts, okay?"
Kal was about to reply, but she stopped. She knew what he was saying. He'd seen how easily Amaterasu had defeated her, and it wouldn't have taken much for him to work out that it was Ninetails who had nearly killed her either. Yet Issun didn't sound like he was mocking her. For once.
I guess I should know when to retreat, she sighed inwardly. "Okay, fine. Just… just go on and defeat the stupid fox. Don't let me hold you up."

The waning moon shone a dim light onto the Ryoshima cliffs where Kal was sat. She'd flown up here as soon as she was able to, where she was away from everyone else.
I'll just hope it rains soon and the blood gets washed away, she thought good-humouredly in an attempt to cheer herself up. It wasn't working.
She could hear the last few sounds of the city from here as everyone went home for the night; everyone sounded happy again, most of their troubles over after the whole poisonous mist epidemic.
"And how did I help them then," she sighed, flicking a pebble across the grass with one paw.
Suddenly there was a sound in the distance; a loud groaning noise, as if something large was collapsing. As Kal glanced around in surprise, not really knowing what to expect, she saw the demon-like island in the distant sea. It had looked pretty stable when she'd seen it before, but now it looked like it was collapsing… and as she looked closer she saw it was disintegrating into… cherry blossom petals…?
She gave herself a brisk shake. She didn't know why she was even surprised anymore. Amaterasu must have defeated Ninetails. There didn't seem to be much other explanation for an evil island turning into flowers.
Then she noticed something else. Heading in her direction from the island, a dark, twisting shadow was moving it's way through the sky, completely blotting out the stars and light as it passed.
Looks like some kind of evil spirit or something, she considered, narrowing her eyes. Is that the spirit of Ninetails?
She watched as the cloud passed overhead. It was moving too fast to not be heading somewhere. I wonder where it's going. Maybe to where more demons are - or perhaps to where it came from?
She came to a quick decision; follow it. She hadn't been able to help anyone in the city recently, and it didn't sound like they needed her now - and she hadn't been any help in the fight against Ninetails. And besides, after getting a beating from the demon, she didn't really want to go back there… not yet. Maybe if she could find out where all of the demons were coming from - or where they were going - she could actually be useful for once.
"Won't be missed much," she muttered, stretching to make sure none of her wounds would re-open themselves while she travelled. Luckily the shadow was moving at a speed she'd be able to keep up with. Taking a deep breath, only wondering for a brief moment what lay ahead, she raced slightly unevenly to the edge of the cliff and took off into the air.

"This weather is crazy!"
Kal had to shout to hear her own voice above the wind. She'd pursued the dark shadow across eastern Nippon, and as soon as she'd seen it heading over the sea she'd had to stop at Shinshu and rest after travelling so far. The sky there had been cloudy and ominous, almost like the day Orochi had been defeated, and every now again there had been the flash of lightning. Luckily when she'd started off again she hadn't been hit by any massive bolts of electricity, and she'd crossed the sea to the northern lands of Kamui.
Yet now she was in the north, she was starting to think coming here might not have been such a good idea. There was nothing but snow and ice as far as she could see - and that wasn't very far, considering there was a raging snowstorm.
I can't fly in this weather, she realised after the wind dragged her back another few metres. She half-landed, half-crashed to the ground, ending up in a massive snowdrift. Digging her way out, she shook snow from her fur, picked a direction to go, and struggled to walk onwards. And where the heck am I?
Snowflakes blew across her face, meaning she could barely see, and the gale was ruffling her fur. Not only that, but the cold was starting to make the scars along her sides sting. And above all, to make matters worse, she was exhausted.
"Come on…" she growled to herself, struggling onwards through the storm. She had no idea where she was heading.
As she squinted into the distance at the snowflakes swirling in front of her, she felt the ground lurch under her paws. The world was starting to spin. That's not good. Just keep going.
Then as she took another step forwards, she lost her balance, and collapsed in the snow.

The news of the demon lord's defeat had spread through the city quickly - however, so had the news of Himiko's death. A shrine had been put together at the palace in memory of her, and many of the citizens had visited the place to pay their respects to their departed leader. Kamo intended to head over there as soon as he got a break from his guarding duties.
He glanced around as Waka appeared from nowhere on the platform in front of the ship. Even though Kamo had been in the Tao Troop for many years, he still had no idea how his captain did that…
Good thing that wolf Amaterasu managed to find Abe's mask, or he'd be in trouble, he thought in somewhat relief. He didn't really understand why the captain had told him to grant the wolf and her tiny companion access to the Tao Troop headquarters, or why the captain had expected them to come here in the first place, but they just seemed like a few of a long list of things he couldn't decipher. He was beginning to get used to it by now.
"Captain," he dipped his head in acknowledgement. "Amaterasu was here earlier, and the little bug too."
"Trés bien," Waka replied absently, as he walked over and halted before going through the door. He looked as if he were going to say something else, but it was hard to tell. The captain was good at covering up his emotions.
Deciding he might as well speak up, Kamo continued. "I was wondering if it would be alright if I went over to the palace. To the shrine. I haven't had a chance to go there yet, so… ah…" He paused, unsure whether his captain had even heard anything he said.
"Hm? Oh, oui, that's fine," Waka told him. "Désolé, but I cannot stay. I have a very important mission to take care of." He turned, ready to head back along the platform.
"Oh… okay," Kamo nodded. Another mission? "When will you be back?"
Waka stopped and hesitated for a moment. Then he spoke again. "The chances are I won't be coming back."
"N-not… coming back?" Kamo gasped, unsure whether he had heard him correctly. If he did, did that mean… "Is the mission highly dangerous?" He knew he wasn't supposed to question his captain, but after saying something like that…
However, if his captain was bothered by this, he gave no sign. Waka was silent for a few seconds, as if he was thinking of how to reply. "I guess you could say that."
Kamo wasn't really sure of what to say. The captain was looking into the distance and he couldn't see his face to get any idea of what he might be thinking. "Then I guess… all I can say is, be careful."

Everything was silent. Kal couldn't tell if it was because of the snow or because she hadn't yet come to her senses. They returned slowly, and one of the first things she noticed was that wherever she was now, it was too warm to be outside in the snowstorm. The faded sounds were coming back, and the one thing she could hear was the crackling of a fire.
Fire?
Immediately she jerked awake, lifting her head and looking around hurriedly. As her eyes came back into focus she realised she was in some kind of house, with a controlled fire crackling away a few feet away. Where am I?
"You're awake then, dog."
Kal's ears twitched at the unfamiliar voice, and she glanced over to where it had come from. On her first scan of her surroundings she'd been so confused she hadn't noticed that there was a man sat not far away beside the fire. Considering this was such a cold region his blue and red clothes didn't look that warm, but the most unusual thing about him was that covering his face was a blue mask.
"You must be crazy to have been wandering around in that storm. Not to mention all the demons around here."
"I have my reasons," Kal muttered quietly, fully aware that he wouldn't be able to understand her. "What's with the creepy mask, anyways?"
"Well, I could ask the same of a dog with creepy wings."
Kal jumped to her paws in shock and took a step back.
"What?" even though she couldn't see his face, the man sounded confused at her reaction.
"Y-you can understand what I'm saying?" Kal asked. She could feel a defensive growl rising in her throat. The last time a human had been able to understand her… that had been Rao. And she'd been possessed by Ninetails then. "You must be a demon!"
"Me?" the man rose to his feet and drew a sword from the sheath at his side, slicing it through the air. "How do I know you aren't a demon? In fact, from the look of you, I'd say you probably are. Kutone will not awaken until it has tasted the blood of more monsters, and don't think you can defeat me!"
For a moment Kal remained in an attack position, ready to fight her way out. But just about every part of her body ached, and every battle she'd got into recently she seemed to end up losing… and who was to say this would be any different. She could tell from the scarred log in the corner of the room that this was someone trained at fighting, so they wouldn't be easy to defeat either. What was the point?
"Yeah," she sighed, hanging her head in defeat and shame. "I probably couldn't."
The stranger hesitated for a moment. The fact that she couldn't see his face or expression was starting to annoy her, but he seemed to have noticed how beaten she looked now, covered in scars. "I take it you're not a demon then,." he countered, sheathing the sword.
"No, and I guess you aren't either. But that still doesn't explain how you can understand what I say."
"You're not from around here, are you?" the man asked, still not sounding completely friendly, but at least he wasn't threatening to fight her now. "You can't be, otherwise you would know of the Oina."
"Oina?"
"We're half-human, half-beast. Occasionally that means we are able to communicate with more… intellectual animals."
Half beast? Kal repeated it in her head, deciding better not to say out loud as she'd already asked enough questions. She flopped back down onto the blanket that she'd been laying on a few minutes ago. "Well, I guess you 'Oina' folks have some hospitality, so… thanks."
The masked man was staring into the fire and didn't reply.
Not that good at keeping up conversations, am I, Kal thought ruefully. Though to be fair she hadn't really met that many people to have conversations with…
"Well, I've told you what I am. What are you supposed to be then?" he asked eventually.
"A dog," Kal shrugged.
"Haven't seen a dog with wings before. Can you fly?"
"Yea," Kal replied blankly. "I'm a Tsubasa Inu."
"Hm," the stranger commented, sounding somewhat amused. "I'd heard of them before, but I've never seen one. I wasn't sure whether they really existed."
"Well, I've never seen any others," Kal sighed, realising this herself. She gave a half-hearted smile. "But I think I exist. The name's Kal."
The man was silent for a moment. "Oki. I don't know where you're from or why you're here, but if you want something for those wounds your best bet would be to go and see Tuskle. She's the village's shaman."
I'll be fine without any healing remedies or whatever it is those shaman people use, Kal thought, but she couldn't hang around here forever. Infact, up until now she'd forgotten why she came here to Kamui in the first place…
"The storm doesn't sound so bad now… though you might have trouble getting to the village past the cursed zone the demons spread."
"You mean this isn't the village?" Kal blinked. "You live out here on your own?" In the middle of nowhere at that.
"You get used to it," Oki muttered.
Kal wasn't sure how to reply. It sounded as if what he had said had some other meaning behind it, but it wasn't really any of her business. "Well, if I can fly high enough I'll be clear of the cursed zone… so long as it isn't over the village…"
Oki froze. "I hope it isn't. Anyway, if you're going to see Tuskle, you'd better get going before the storm gets worse again."

Luckily the storm wasn't as bad as it had been before, and even though the visibility still wasn't perfect, Kal was able to fly again. She spotted the large totem poles that marked the village from quite a way off - they stood out amongst all the white of snow and ice - and headed that way, staying clear of the cursed zone. It had swallowed up half of the pathway leading there, but it didn't seem to have spread any further.
Kal flew down to walk the rest of the way, unsure if the storm would suddenly become fierce again. She didn't want to get blown into the cursed zone by a large gust of wind if it did. The snow was deep and it was harder to walk, but at least she wasn't getting blasted by snow this time.
I wonder if there's any more of these 'Oina' folks here, she thought as she travelled along the snowy path, passing a large sign reading 'Wep'keer'. And if the others are as weird as that Oki guy.
At last the path opened out. Wow.
The village of Wep'keer was quite large, and most of it was partway up the cliffs. It seemed almost as big as the city in size, though there weren't as many houses. Yet even though the village was large, it was strangely quiet.
"Geez, it's like a ghost town here," Kal muttered quietly, taking note of how eerie the wind sounded as it whistled through the valley. She wasn't actually that sure why she had come to this village in the first place. Looking for the shaman Oki had told her about wasn't exactly high on her priorities list. Perhaps the place where Ninetails' evil spirit had gone to was around here somewhere. Though that was probably more likely to be somewhere outside the village…
Suddenly Kal saw something move across the clearing. She glanced over and saw someone walking across the icy ground - very easily, she noticed, as if they were used to it. They looked like a girl, however Kal couldn't tell for sure since they also had a mask covering their face, though this time it looked like a deer.
What is with all these weird-looking mask? That girl's mask is even creepier than Oki's. Kal was about to head over and find out if this person would be able to understand her as well, when she noticed something else. On one of the cliff ledges nearby were three strange-looking things, holding signposts and covered with strange straw-like attire. One of them jumped from the cliff and hopped towards the girl, the others following shortly after.  The way they moved, they seemed almost like imps…
Demons! Kal realised with a jolt. The girl hadn't seemed to notice them yet, but she didn't look like someone who'd be able to fend off monsters. Then again, the demons hadn't noticed Kal yet either…
She didn't know what to do. Every fight she'd been in recently she'd been beaten in - and nearly killed. How could she expect to fight off a bunch of demons?
No time to waste. I can't just stand around and watch someone get attacked. Kal drew her sword, slicing through a bunch of falling snowflakes. I've got to do something!