An Unlikely Pair

Sixteen

Kanna set the bowl beside her. "The only way to purify a jewel like the Twin Soul is to have the twins do it themselves," she said. "They have to work together to do it." She looked outside when a flash of lightning stuck the sky.

Sango looked outside. She sensed a dark aura as soon as the lightning struck. Miroku did too. She looked at Kanna. "Is that the power of the Twin Soul?"

"It's at it's limit," Kanna said quietly. "This is one storm that only Waru and Yoi can clear."

~~

Koga sat watching over the pack that remained in the camp. The girl he brought in sat in the middle of the cave, three pups bouncing around her. He still didn't know her name. She refused to tell him, or anyone for that matter.

Although Ayame did her best, the girl wasn't going to fully recover from her injuries. Her neck was slowly healing and wrapped up in thick grasses as a makeshift brace to keep her head upright. It looked uncomfortable and she couldn't move as much as she had been able to.

The pups seemed to get along with her quite well. They really liked her, even if she didn't say much or play as rough as them. One of the girls, the youngest, stopped bouncing and looked at the one sitting in front of her. "Do you have a name we can call you by?" she asked. Despite being really young, she was able to speak clearly.

"What would you like to call me?" the girl sitting asked.

"Can I call you Mayu?" the youngest girl asked, tilting her head.

"Sure," the newly named Mayu said and smiled. "And what do I call you three?"

"I'm Kaya," the oldest of the pups said. "Ayoga is my brother and Kame is my sister." She smiled proudly. You could almost tell she was the daughter of the pack leader.

Ayoga rolled playfully around the feet of his sisters. He was the middle pup, but he acted like he was younger than Kame. It was cute in a way. Mayu giggled to herself at his antics. Kame playfully pounced on him as if to tell him she was in charge.

Kaya rolled her eyes. "You two always do that," she said with a little laugh in her voice.

Mayu observed the pups playing and took note that they really didn't look too much alike. Kaya had long red hair like Ayame and her eyes were a light brown. Ayoga had dark brown almost black hair and bright green eyes. Both of them had their hair pulled back in a single ponytail. Kame had jet black hair and soft blue eyes. Her hair was pulled up in to pigtails. The only thing that they all shared in common was they had medium brown tails. Eventually their tails would become the color of their hair.

Mayu looked up when she saw Koga passing by. He looked a little concerned and was moving pretty quickly. The pups stopped playing and their eyes followed him to the entrance.

"Kaya, Ayoga, Kame," Ayame called. "Come here please."

Mayu stood up. She knew that was her call to go as well, considering she was unable to defend herself at the moment. Kame looked up at her and Mayu picked up the small pup. Her siblings had already gone over to Ayame.

"Keep watch on the pups," Ayame said to Mayu. "Please?"

Mayu nodded. "As I have before," she promised. "I will protect them with my life."

Ayame nodded once before going toward the entrance to see what was going on. Mayu ushered the pups to the back of the cave behind where the pack kept their store of food.

"What's going on?" Ayoga asked.

"I'm not sure," Mayu replied, still holding Kame. "Whatever it is, we need to be quiet. Do you remember the escape route if we need to use it?"

Kaya and Ayoga nodded.

"No one else knows about it," Kame promised, hugging Mayu's shoulder.

Mayu set Kame down. "Head on down that way. Ayoga, you too. Kaya will come and get you when it's safe, okay?"

The younger two nodded. They went toward the secret exit that had been dug by them. It was just big enough that they could squeeze through but small enough that anyone larger than Kaya couldn't fit.

Kaya sat herself down in the shadows. She knew well by now what to do in situations like this. It has happened many times within the past month. She had built up her speed so she could almost outrun some of the older pack members. She could definitely outrun her siblings, even carrying one of them.

Mayu peeked carefully over the rock they were behind. She couldn't see any danger, but that didn't mean it wasn't there. She focused her hearing to listen closer. She heard several growls, snarls and even a whimper. Whatever was out there was coming closer.

"Kaya, go," Mayu whispered, turning to the young she-wolf. "Go!"

Kaya dove for the little tunnel and Mayu went out through the outcrop Ayame used to keep medicinal herbs. She ran toward where the little tunnel opened to the forest.

Someone caught her on her way there. They pulled her away from her destination. She didn't dare call out to the pups. She wanted to make sure they were safe. Only when the tunnel exit was out of sight did she look up at her captor.

The red and off-white kimono was familiar. Upon seeing the face, she knew who it was.

Her captor was herself.