This story IS self-contained, even though it's the third in a series. For those of you who haven't read BESO, here's a quick recap from chapter 6, from Kouga's POV:
He watched as Kagome fell lightly to the ground, unconscious. Kouga let the darkness and pain start to claim him. It was over. She'd done it. Naraku was no more. In his fading vision, he saw the monk reclaim the Shikon no Tama, and slump Inuyasha's bloodied body over the firecat. Then he retrieved Kagome and hopped on behind the hanyou. They approached Kouga, whose head had begun to loll back, and he was faintly aware of a conversation. "You have no room for the wolf prince, monk." It was Kagura's voice. He recognized it from the depths of his nightmares. A brief silence. "But…he needs help." "I'll return him to his people." Pause. "Why would you do that?" A deep, maniacal chuckle. "To defy the last order Naraku gave me." "To kill Kouga." "Mm...A token of my independence."
(ben-gàn-tha revenge/vengeance)
Kouga came to with a hissing intake of breath. The pain was mind-numbing, as though every nerve in his chest were given twice the sensitivity. As though someone had impaled his body on a nasty, splintered stake.
He strained to observe the damage, his vision focusing barely enough to make out the mangled flesh of his pecks, protruding ribs, copious amounts of blood and pain…
Ugh, he winced internally, noting also the gaping hole in his metal armor, I WAS impaled. At that point flashes of the final battle returned - Inuyasha's demise, and Kagome's surge of power. Naraku's defeat, thanks to Kagura's betrayal…
Kagura… His awareness perked. Where am I? His vision still blurry, he used his other senses to assimilate the chill breeze, and the sensation of flying. His fingers twined in soft fibers beneath him, and a heat source radiated from his right.
But his concentration was broken by his own demonic body, as it went through the grueling task of healing itself. He tried to bite it back, but a pathetic whimper quivered on his lips as his vital organs re-adhered, his bones re-structured, and his skin replenished. It hurt like hell. Why was consciousness always the first thing to be restored?
"Hn. Awake so soon?"
He froze. That voice. Deceptively soft. Melodious. Confident. It triggered memories. Bad memories. The smell of death on the wind. The musky, wet stench of slaughtered wolf youkai, and a hatred so fierce and unforgiving that it would have winded him had his lungs been whole…
"You…," he spat, more than spoke, and glared through narrowed eyes at the one being he'd die to kill. Kagura was kneeling next to him on her air-born feather, those penetrating scarlet eyes regarding him with all the haughty arrogance of a self-declared goddess.
What the hell was she doing?
"Bitch," he seethed, wincing anew at the pain in his body. "Where are you taking me?"
Her lip twitched in disgust at what he assumed was his face, before it curled up into a smirk. She fixed her gaze ahead, the wind fluffing loose tendrils of raven hair about her ivory brow. "Your mountain."
His heart jumped up into his throat, as visions of his kin's slaughter branded his mind's eye. "Keh!" he forced sound into his words, despite the battered tissue. "Think I'll let you use me as a decoy to lure out and destroy the rest of my tribe?"
Her eyes flashed in annoyance, and she glared down at him. "You're not that important to me. And I certainly don't care about your people enough to waste my time finishing them off," she snapped before breaking eye contact. Her next words were quiet, as though she weren't wholly comfortable saying them.
"I'm sparing your life."
Kouga blinked. His mouth fumbled inarticulately over some shocked response. Apparently, the blatant confusion at her response radiated off his body in tangible waves, because she clarified.
"There are only so many ways to defy a dead master, wolf boy."
It took him several confusing moments to process her words. And even then, they didn't ring true. Kagura was evil. Made up of seven layers of evil. Peel those away, and the hell-cat had an evil core. It wasn't her vengeance against Naraku masquerading around as altruism. It was some other ulterior motive. He was sure of it.
The strain caused another wave of pain to wash over him, and he grunted and clutched at his chest. She reached out to steady him, and he swiped clumsily at her in response. "Don't touch me!"
She leaned back and clicked her tongue. "Idiot. You'll fall off-"
"Do you take me for a fool? You actually expect me to believe that bullshit?" he pushed through the ache with his usual vehemence. "What are you planning, Kagura!"
Her brow knotted, and her lips thinned. For a brief second, he thought she might lose composure, but the disciplined female inhaled deeply, and seemed to blow out the tension. Her next words were controlled. Even.
"You were much more pleasant when you were unconscious," she said, gripping her fan against her hip. "If you don't shut up, I'll just drop you off here. Makes no difference to me."
He searched her face. She was irritated. Perhaps a little perplexed. But that was all. No animosity. No maniacal glee at the notion of killing him… Against Kouga's better judgment, he started to believe her. For once, he didn't see his death in those large crimson pools.
"Then you're a greater fool than I thought," he grated, with a little less venom. "Securing my life only guarantees your death, wench. My agenda won't change concerning you."
A derisive, and unladylike snort was her response. "Please. You're no threat to me, brat. You never were."
The chill breeze from flying did little to cool the blood that boiled under his skin, and he gasped at the rage that burned in his throat. He sat up, ignoring the screaming nerves. His hand snaked out, and got a fistful of her kimono, and he yanked her wide-eyed face close to his. "I'll kill you, do you hear me? I won't rest until your blood is on my hands-"
She hissed, and caught his wrist, bending it back. In his weakened state he was no match for her.
"Well, then…" she said, surprising him by jamming her sharp nails into the flesh of her own palm, causing little red droplets to tear up and bleed down her wrist. She then clasped his fingers, smearing his hand pointedly with her blood. "Is that all?"
The act elicited immediate repulsion. Feeling violated, Kouga instinctively leapt back. Too far back. He toppled over the edge of her feather, and his stomach lodged in his throat as the freefall pulled him down. He anticipated a long drop, but the ground slammed into him after just seconds.
He faded momentarily as the impact reopened his gruesome wounds, making him wish he'd been out longer. When his eyes adjusted, he saw Kagura hovering over him on that blasted feather. The expression on her face as she studied him was…different. Strained. Searching. As though…
No. She couldn't possibly be checking to see if he was all right…
Being in far too much pain to berate her eloquently, only the two most significant words made it past his lips. "Hate…you…"
She exhaled, and her eyes crinkled with amusement. Kagura opened her mouth to say something when a wolf's howl sounded near by.
Her head jerked in that direction, acknowledging the approach of Kouga's pack with a slight nod. "Not your home, but close enough, wolf boy." She looked like she wanted to say more, but apparently decided against it. With a two-fingered wave, she ascended into the sky.
Grimacing through the haze of his searing injuries, Kouga watched her leave, highly uncomfortable with the perplexed state Naraku's lackey had left him in. She'd spared his life. And not just that, but she'd carried his wounded body home as well. It was confusing him, clouding his hatred…
It was the first time he'd lost momentum regarding his oath-sworn revenge, and he panicked. In response, Kouga deliberately conjured up the visuals of his massacred men. Brethren who had trusted him. Those who he'd sworn to protect. All butchered wantonly, pointlessly, their corpses desecrated with the unholy dance of death.
By Kagura's hand.
It only took moments. By the time his pack reached him, he hated her all over again, the animosity as white hot as when he discovered her treachery the first time around. He held his breath as his men eased him gingerly onto a carrier. He needed to recover - and as soon as possible.
The wolf prince had a Wind User to kill.