As morning faded into noon, the mountain home of the northern wolf demon tribe finally appeared on the horizon. Much taller than their southern counterparts, the white-capped peaks soared high into the clouds, their flinty, jagged slopes rimed treacherously with ice and snow. This was a harsh, unwelcoming land–forbidding, even without the dark, ominous presence

Kagome stirred, something hard poking her uncomfortably in the spine. Her first groggy thought was predictably dirty—then, she recognized the voice to which that prodding hardness was attached. “Up, wench!” Blue eyes flew open, alert with anger, a growl tearing from her lips as she turned, ripping the offending staff from Jakken’s pesky green hands and

He came upon her from behind. As usual, the girl was irritatingly oblivious to her surroundings. Sighing, she bent down, reaching for another stick when his hand seized her by the shoulder, the branches in her arms clattering to the ground as he slammed her back against a tree. Wide blue eyes stared up at

Sesshoumaru glared north, his claws biting into his palms as he tightened his grip on Ah-Un’s reins. He had entertained the girl’s ridiculous whims long enough. It was time to end this foolishness. He would find the wolf and strike him down this very day–as he had proposed from the start. As his seething blood

Shaking the mist from her hair, Kagome crossed the threshold into Kouga’s den. Wolves–on two legs and four–scampered about the huge stony cavern, arms and jaws laden with old bones and sake bottles and dusty furs. Shooting her apologetic glances as they bowed and darted past, the youkai cleaned up the den like their lives

The sun gleamed high in the iron sky as they touched down at last upon Kouga’s mountain. Or, at least, what Kagome thought was his mountain… Sliding down from Entei’s warm back, she took the opportunity to stretch out her cramped legs as she walked along the flinty overlook, searching far and near for the

Clothed in her new miko garb, Kagome set out the next morning toward the appointed meeting place. It was terribly early still, the pink light of dawn just beginning to creep up over the dark horizon. Though the air was far from warm, it was a vast improvement over the chill of the preceding weeks.