Chapter 16 - Allies

I felt something tinkling me on my nose and I showed it away with my hand, but it had no effect at all as I felt the tinkling again. I felt the pain from Kagura's blades and I definitely wasn't in a mood to deal with something so irritating as was this. Though, my curiosity was stronger than the pain from my wounds, so I slowly started to open my eyes.

The first thing I saw was a mass of some kind of orange hair covering my sight. I wondered what it was and where it was coming from, so I again showed it away, this time holding it in my hand so it wouldn't fall back. What came to my sight after that wasn't exactly what I expected and for a second I wished I never gave in to my curiosity and just pretended to be dead.

Two red, snake-like eyes, were watching me curiously, casting short glances towards my hand holding his mane. He didn't look angry, which was a good sign, but it still didn't explain what was he doing here at all. I cautiously looked around and saw that the others were still fighting against Naraku. That was good. That meant that my plan succeeded, but I thought that I would be dead by now. Kagura certainly had that intention in her eyes when she attacked me.

Thinking about Kagura, I searched for her only to find her on the place where she stood before, but now she was lying on the ground and I could swear that there was smoke coming out of her body. A large space of grass around her was in similar condition. Was she and the grass burned by something? I looked back at Entei, who was still watching me with the same curiosity as before, and my brain suddenly made a connection.

"Did you protect me?" I asked, not really expecting an answer. I was still looking into Entei's eyes, secretly hoping that maybe my ability to read mind might help me to read even his, but I heard no words at all. Though, even without words, I had the feeling as if he confirmed it. It was just something back in my mind, which was telling me this, but I decided to trust this feeling.

"Why?" I asked then. A mixture of feelings entered my mind and I wasn't able to make anything out of it. It was clear that he was trying to answer me, but it seemed that his brain was working too differently from mine for me to understand what he wanted to tell me. It was really hard to keep a conversation when each of the participants of it were using different code to communicate.

Entei tilted his head when he realized that this time I didn't get what he wanted to tell me and after a second of thought, he pointed with his nose towards the place, where was the still sleeping Hakudoushi. I followed his gaze and thought about the meaning for a bit, before turning back at him.

"You mean, because I defeated Hakudoushi?" I tried and I sensed his confirmation. I was confused. I didn't even really defeated him. I just put him to sleep, which was only temporary solution, and which wouldn't work for the second time for sure. I've heard that Entei chose for his master only the strongest warrior. I wouldn't call myself a weakling, but I certainly wasn't the strongest warrior either. There were many who would fit that title better.

"So you're saying that you want to join me?" He swiftly confirmed it and I smiled. Maybe I wasn't the strongest warrior and I would probably never understand why Entei chose me from all the people around, but it wasn't that I would complain.

"Well, I always wanted a pony." I said with grin and then started to get up. I felt my whole body burning in pain, but the fact that I still could move at all was one of the advantages of being a half-demon. Being an ordinary human, I certainly wouldn't be able to get up for several more days or weeks, if I would be able to do so at all.

With a little bit of help from my new friend, I was soon standing back on my own two feet and I started to scan the situation. The good thing was, that no one was locked in a barrier anymore. Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru and Kouga were fighting against Naraku, trying with all their mights to defeat him, but since Naraku was hidden inside his barrier, their efforts were mostly wasted. Sango and Miroku had their hands full of fighting Kohaku, trying to block his way to Naraku without hurting him and Kikyo was further away with Rin, Shippo, Ah-Un and Jaken, protecting the kids from meeting any harm. Ah-Un were more or less helping her with this effort, watching the situation carefully, ready for any attack, while Jaken seemed to be more frightened than anyone else on the field at the moment.

The bad thing was, that Naraku was still holding the almost complete jewel. The only thing which prevented him from completing it were Sango's and Miroku's, for the time being, successful efforts. Naraku himself seemed to be a bit irritated, but he was doing pretty good job in hiding this particular emotion behind the mask of haughtiness. Even if he didn't complete the jewel, I couldn't imagine what things could he do with such a big part of the jewel he just had in his possession. The strength of his barrier was speaking for itself. There was no way it could be broken through. I remembered that Kikyo was able to break through at some point, but I didn't think that the others wouldn't already try it and since she was standing away right now, it would mean that she had no more power over the barrier than anyone else.

I again looked at Entei, whom I was right now using as support so I would be able to keep standing, and tried to think of anything with which he could help us, being who he was. We needed to get the jewel from Naraku at any cost, was that even possible? For us, who couldn't even get close to him, probably not, but Entei might have a chance, since until now he was their ally.

"Did Kagura see you when you attacked her to protect me?" I asked. The answer he gave me pleased me, because it seemed that she didn't see him, so there would be no one who could give away his change of sides.

"I would like to ask you for a favor, but to be able to do it, you would have to pretend to be still serving to Hakudoushi." I understood his confusion, but there was no denial, which was good.

"We need to get the jewel from Naraku to be able to defeat him and I think that right now, you're the only one who could make it. They think of you as about an ally and you're fast enough to run away after you're done. I will understand if you refuse, but it would really help us a lot." His answer was uncertainty and I thought about what could make him so uncertain. I've got an idea and I immediately tried it out.

"It would help me a lot, if you'd managed to do it." I said kindly and this time the only emotion seeping out of him was pure determination to finish his mission. As I thought, he didn't care about the others, but if it was about me, he was willing to do it. I smiled widely.

"But be careful, I don't want anything to happen to you. You mustn't give away you're actually after the jewel, until you'll be sure you'll be able to get it." I warned him. Even though he was our enemy until now, from this short conversation between us, I realized that he was actually quite a cool guy and now when I've got him on our side, I didn't want to lose him in any way. When I've got his confirmation, I patted him on his head and smiled.

"Good luck then. I'm counting on you." He whinnied happily and with that we parted. While he started to walk to Hakudoushi, I made my way towards Kikyo and the kids. I definitely didn't feel to be able to fight in the front lines, and I didn't even want to. This was probably the first time I actually wanted Naraku to run away, because that was the first step for Entei to be able to steal the jewel from him.

"Kagome!" Rin and Shippo cried when they noticed me. There was fear in their voices and in their eyes. I couldn't blame them, I must have looked really horrible, with all those wounds from Kagura.

They started to run towards me, but soon stopped and I realized there was a barrier which was protecting them and they knew they couldn't cross it under any circumstances. I looked towards Kikyo with smile and she just nodded slightly, though her expression was unreadable. I was glad that she was protecting the kids, but even with her powers, I wasn't sure if it was enough against Naraku.

"We were so worried about you! First Kagura attacked you and then you disappeared behind the fire. We thought something really bad happened to you!" Shippo started when I reached them and I could see that both of them wanted to hug me, but didn't know if it was alright considering the state I was in.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. These wounds are nothing, the blood just makes it seem worse than it really is." I tried to calm them down and it cheered them up a bit. In fact I wasn't as well as I just claimed, but I wouldn't tell that to the kids. They were worried enough even without that knowledge.

Stepping into the barrier, I sat on the ground close to Kikyo, glad for the bit of safety which this place provided. Rin and Shippo sat to me, Rin to my left and Shippo to my right side. I embraced them with my hands and then looked at the situation with the others.

First I noticed that Sango and Miroku were carrying the unconscious Kohaku towards us. I knew he was alright, Sango would never hurt him badly, but her face was still full of guilt and regret from having to stop him this way.

I looked at Naraku then. He either still didn't know that all his allies were defeated, or he didn't care or show it. He still had his irritating smirk on his face, together with a lot of mockery in his eyes. Inuyasha was hurt, not badly, but I could imagine what damage it would do to his ego as neither Kouga or Sesshoumaru had any wounds at all, or at least I didn't notice any.

The fight was going nowhere. Even though it was three against one, the one had better defense and the three didn't cooperate at all. Maybe if they did find a way how to fight together, they could change the outcome a bit, but as long as each of them was fighting by himself, sometimes even arguing among themselves, it was more pitiful than useful in any way.

Sango and Miroku arrived and I just nodded towards them as acknowledgment of their presence. I didn't feel like saying anything at the moment and I knew they felt the same way. I looked away again and my eyes fell on Entei, who was picking up the still sleeping Hakudoushi and placing him on his back. Then he started to walk towards Kagura, where he let the boy fall down beside her and that's when I lost him from my sight due to his speed.

I tried to find him, but with no luck. Though, he made his presence known very soon on his own, when a huge fireball landed right in the middle of the fighting demons. That successfully startled them all and they looked up to see what was going on. Entei didn't let them much time to think about it as he immediately moved away, flying towards Hakudoushi and Kagura. Once there, he looked at them, then at Naraku and then in a direction opposite to where we all were. Naraku frowned, but obviously got his message that the time for fighting was over.

I couldn't think of Naraku listening to a horse, but he was a useful ally, as he still thought, and if he didn't do what Entei wanted, it was more than clear from the previous situation, that Entei would keep disrupting the fight, until he would get what he wanted. I smiled. He was really very clever horse, realizing that he had to end the fight if he was to carry out our plan and even coming up with such good way to accomplish it.

Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru and Kouga seemed to get the message too, and they didn't like it either, not wanting to lose Naraku out of sight again, but their efforts to stop him were useless as were their attacks the whole time before. Picking up his two knocked out minions in a barrier, Naraku made his way out of here, Entei following close behind. To prevent his opponents from following him as well, he created a cloud of miasma and when it faded, he was gone.

With Naraku no longer being here, the three started to walk towards us, each of them with a certain amount of irritation. At the same time, Kikyo let down the barrier and ignoring anything else, she looked straight at me.

"Any normal human would have already died from those wounds. Also, the attack you used earlier, I've never seen any priestess to do anything like that." She said sharply and I gulped, but I wasn't in state to keep denying anything and I also realized that it wouldn't do any good, so I decided to fill her in as well. Maybe I shouldn't have kept it from her from the start. She was also keeping some things from us before, but nothing as important as this and now she was our ally, working together with us, not coming and going as she pleased like she used to do.

"Don't you dare to insult my woman! Are you trying to tell she's not normal? If that's so, then you're the one to talk!" Kouga quickly closed the distance between him and us and was now yelling straight at Kikyo. She turned her head at him slowly, the expression on her face more bored than anything else.

"Don't interfere demon. This doesn't concern you and I didn't kill you yet only because you can be thought of as about an ally at the moment, but I need little reason to change my mind about that." She said calmly and I could see another salve of yelling coming from him after this remark. To stop that from happening, I stepped into the conversation.

"It's alright Kouga. Her question wasn't out of place and I think I should answer it now and you should probably hear it too." I said with smile and my voice really made him reconsider his intended actions. I felt everyone's eyes on me, but I didn't want to meet any of them, so I kept looking to the ground and with that I started to explain.