Silence of The Wolf

Chapter Two



The scouting party remained hidden from the pathetic scores of human trash walking along the streets. All were unaware of the danger they could be in. All day fifty youkai reaching no more than the ranking of a D apparition were searching. It was thier fourth pillage since King Enki had enforced his stupid law. How did that fool think their kind would survive without their food source? He might as well ordered all of the Makai to slowly die in hunger just like that fool Raizen had did before them. There was no doubt that the next ruler would demand the same rule to be followed.

Luckily not every youkai in the Makai was without a backbone and afraid to stand up to the big fool. There was one man that had pulled them all together, not wanting to go along with the starvation. Not only would they get to feed to their heart\'s content but get rich in the process. Even if some of the cowards in the Makai wouldn\'t go themselves to invade the humans, they would pay handsomely for one. It had taken months to work out all the details. The party would only take humans that wouldn\'t be missed that quickly or not at all. The homeless, very elderly or those that lived alone. The search usually took sometime and they were only to grab twenty. They had enough collars on them for a few more but their goal was twenty. Of course they usually grabbed one more so they could feast on the way back home.

The collars were designed to cover up any human odor and aura they might emit. The borders were still being patrolled by that pathetic tournament loser, Hiei. Not to mention the other youkai along with him. They had a special place in which they crossed, free from all prying eyes.

Now all they needed was to find a few more prey then head home to enjoy their spoils. A blue youkai resembling a fish stopped in his tracks calling his comrades to his side. \"Do you smell that? The scent of putrid human blood, open flesh on which to feast.\" The ten ran off, all unseen by human eyes. Their search lead them to a shrine, no one appeared to be home. \"The smell is coming from that small building there, I say we go in. There\'s also two humans in there, we can add them to our bounty.\"

The others agreed and followed him inside the run down building. Much to their delight two well built human males were inside, both asleep. Easy pickings for them, not to mention the already prepared meal they\'d brought with them. One man groaned in his sleep at the harsh way he was being lifted. \"Hurry, lets contact the others and begin regrouping at the entrance.\"

Kagome kept running, the piece was moving and very fast. She couldn\'t lose it, not after waiting so long to feel that familiar tug in her soul. She had to find where it was coming from, who had it? A stitch began in her side, her lungs were burning. Shizuru was breathing hard but was staying right behind her. Her run took her to a long under ground tunnel, an abandoned subway station. What was the jewel fragment doing down here?

\"Shit,\" She rounded the corner causing Shizuru to slam into her back. \"Do you feel that? A whole lot of youkai are down here. Maybe we should head back for now, I don\'t want to get you killed.\" Before she could turn around and get her friend\'s approval a sudden pain stung the back of her head.




Shizuru came to first, the back of her head was throbbing. What the hell had happened? She remembered stopping behind Kagome then nothing. They had entered a tunnel at the old subway station across town. Her senses picked up something bad around her, she was scared to open her eyes. The air around her felt all wrong, not to mention the smell. She was in some kind of cart, the wheels going over the rocky terrain could be felt. Where was Kagome?

Her eyes opened to see her friend laying next to her out cold. Shizuru watched in astonishment, something was glowing on the girl\'s chest. The jewel, Kagome had shown it to her several times. It was reacting for some reason, maybe because of all the youkai she could sense around them. Why couldn\'t they sense the power raidating off of it like she could? The girl had said a ward had been place on it. It\'s glow grew brighter seconds before she watched it slowly dissolve into the girl\'s flesh. It looked painful but Kagome never made a sound. It stopped as the skin closed around it. Shizuru didn\'t panic at the scene, Kagome had said it had originally come from her body.

A small child was wimpering behind her calling her attention away from her sleeping friend. She turned to a boy that couldn\'t have been no older than eight years. \"It\'s okay, we\'ll get out of here.\" Hopefully, it wouldn\'t take her friends long to realize that she was missing. Just her luck to be kidnapped by the few youkai that were breaking their king\'s new law. She\'d make sure to give Kagome a good ear lashing for running right into the mess. The boy looked up at her with large wide eyes, disbelief was written all over his face.

\"They killed my parents already, they\'re going to eat them.\" He burst into tears burying his head into the woman\'s chest. He sobbed out his sorrow into the one person showing him comfort. The noise he was making woke a few others up as well. Kagome began to stir behind her now, swearing at her own discomfort.

The miko sensed the youkai and knew she\'d been taken. Her hand went straight to where the jewel had been laying against her skin. \"Where is it?\" Panic filled her, she could still sense it very close. Shizuru told her what she\'d seen, it calmed her down some. It made sense that the jewel would go back, it was in danger with all these youkai so close. Now they wouldn\'t be able to sense it or see it. \"How long have I been out?\"

\"Three days, both of you have been out the whole time.\" A tall man with short black hair spoke staring down at the shackles attached to his hands and feet leaving him immobile. He was wearing a long trenchcoat, they couldn\'t see his face that well. What the shadows didn\'t hide his long bangs did.

\"I thought you said there was a new law Shizuru, why did they break it? We are no longer in the Ningenkai.\" Kagome sat up, glad to see that neither her or Shizuru were chained. Neither was the child or the few scared humans sharing the cart with them. \"Mind if I ask why you two are chained up?\" Her eyes fell to the other man, he way laying back leaning casually. His face was emotionless, as if he was bored. She eyed him for several minutes he wasn\'t what most women would consider cute. He wasn\'t ugly or unattractive but had that raw sex appeal to his features.

\"We didn\'t take kindly to be touched by monsters, so we killed a few.\" Saitou didn\'t bother looking over at either girl. He was taking in his surroundings, hoping to find his way out of here soon. Him and Aoshi had woken up to find themselves surrounding by the ugly beasts. Niether had spoken just started attacking the nearest ones. Their weapons had been taken from them. Then some offending collar had been placed on them along with the chains.

\"Kagome, don\'t worry by now Keiko will have called to see why I didn\'t show the other night. They\'ll know we are missing, should be only a matter of time before a team is sent out to save us.\" Shizuru hugged the child to her, hoping that she was right. No matter what happened she wouldn\'t just sit here and die. The look in Kagome\'s eyes told her she felt the same way. \"I\'m surprised Hiei hasn\'t sensed us yet, though the collar would have something to do with it. I doubt they\'d be taking humans in just to have them confiscated. How much does it impede you?\" She ignored all the other humans, her mind working on getting them out of there alive.

\"Hmmm, as soon as they stop again get ready for all hell to break loose.\" Kagome reached up to touch the collar, laughter escaped her mouth. \"What a bunch of morons. Guess they weren\'t expecting us, their mistake.\" She heard the man snickering softly to himself. \"What are you laughing at Gramps?\" She wasn\'t going to like him, that much was already obvious.

\"Really, Aoshi and myself couldn\'t manage to escape from these things. What makes you think you can escape, much less rescue everyone else?\" Saitou had to admire the girl\'s spunk but she was a fool if she thought herself a hero. She\'d be lucky if she managed to run off saving herself. \"You\'re going to die with the rest of them.\"

\"From the tone in your voice I take it you don\'t count yourself in with us.\" Shizuru hissed at him, the child stiffening in her arms. The other man finally turned to look at her, giving her a view of his face. He was very nice looking, his features were soft. His eyes made her flinch, they were suddenly cold and calculating. \"If you two are planning on escaping you can\'t leave all these innocent people to die.\"

\"Let them do what they want Shizuru, we both know what we are up against and they don\'t stand a chance alone. No matter how skilled a fighter they might be, it will do them no good against a herd of youkai.\" Kagome looked around counting the carts, there was four in total. There was twenty-two humans in total left alive, she\'d see to it they all made it back home alive. The pulsing began in her soul, the chip was close, in the first cart. \"They have the shard somewhere up ahead, I can feel it.\"

\"I take it you won\'t be leaving without that either?\" Shizuru pushed the hair from her face. \"I hope they stop soon or I\'m going to piss my pants. One of them is coming back this way.\" She watched a fish looking youkai stop beside them, looking them over. He sneered at her before reaching out and grabbing a breast. \"Get your damn hand off you sick bastard.\" She swung her fist catching him by surprise, making a solid impact against his jaw. He howled in pain, showing long fangs.

\"You bitch, I\'ll kill you for that.\"

\"Bring it on pal.\" She pushed the boy towards one of the chained men ready to do battle. The bastard had a thing coming if he thought he could paw her. Killing her was one thing but his hands weren\'t allowed to grope her. If they thought she\'d just roll over and take the abuse they were about to get a rude awakening. If they\'d been smart they would have killed them when they had the chance. Just like all youkai, to underestimate the human. Her brother had shown them their mistake and so would she. A smile was placed when he stormed off leaving her alone. \"Thought so,\" She dug in her pocket and pulled out her cigarette case. As soon as she lit one the man to her left looked up, eyeing the smoke. \"Want one?\" She tossed one towards him, he caught it in midair. \"So you\'re fast, that might come in handy.\" The lighter followed, he eyed it strangely.

\"What is this contraption?\" Saitou looked at the strange lighting device, where had they ended up? Everything looked different to him, even the girl\'s clothing. He figured it out after several seconds, then tossed it back. His mind flying in many directions, what had been the strange light? Where had that well taken them, or was the answer when? \"What year is it?\"

Kagome glanced up at him, why would he ask something like that? \"It\'s the year two-thousand and two, why?\" She noticed that it got both of their attention. Her eyes landed on the man\'s strange clothes, the uniform. It had looked familiar to her, either these two were crackpots that liked to play dressup or that was an old imperial uniform. \"You got to be shitting me, where did you get that uniform? Please tell me you bought it at local costume store.\"

Shizuru wasn\'t sure what had gotten into her friend. Sure he was dressed odd but he seemed odd to her, so it went well. But Kagome seemed excited about something, almost ready to pounce on the man. Her voice was slightly raised in question, astonishment laced her words. Shizuru noticed that he might be odd but he\'d yet to force the small boy away from him.

\"I did no such thing, this if my uniform. I work for the government girl.\" He took a drag of the strange smoke the taller girl had offered. It tasted different from what he was use to but did the trick. The girl was staring at him, causing unease to settle over him. \"What\'s it to you?\"

\"I hate to break it to you buddy but they wore uniforms like that over a hundred years ago, not now. So either you are a nuttcase or you have some explaining to do. I knew you two seemed different as soon as I woke up.\" Kagome looked at them then knew what she\'d sensed. The lingering magic of the well still clung to their auras. \"The well, you two came in contact with the well. Which one of you had the shard? It is the only way it could have possibly worked.\"

\"What are you babbling about women? How do you know about that strange well? Maybe it is you that has some explaining to do.\" Saitou knew she had Aoshi\'s attention as well, even if the man didn\'t speak. They\'d both had three days to think about their current situation. It was decided by both that something had happened they couldn\'t explain. They\'d been pitched into a foreign world, just them.

\"Just answer me, did you get here through a well?\" She held her breath waiting for the answer. It would confirm why she\'d felt the fragment pulling her to them. They\'d come through only to be captured by the youkai, sucked to be them.

\"Yes, we were both in a well. Something happened, we woke up here.\" Saitou frowned seeing the girl\'s excitement for no reason. He wasn\'t happy about it, why would she be? Then again it\'s not like she was the one to find herself in an unknown world. First thing he would do was head back to that well and get back home.

\"So one of them had the shard? Are you sure Kagome?\" Shizuru saw her looking towards the first cart ahead of them. So these two men were from the past? It was almost to real for even her, time traveling was actually possible. They were over a century from home, from their time. She could almost feel sorry for them, almost.


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