Chaypter 115

The new leader



"Lady Anzu, we pledge our allegiance to you, the new leader of the Alliance of a Flame." Goro said sincerely and the whole council bowed to Mai.

The girl was sitting with her back straight, horribly tense and equally confused. What the hell?!
Some of the other council members shared her lack of knowledge of what was happening – they were whispering among themselves and sending Hosen suspicious looks. In the meantime the fox demon, who used to be Ichizo's right hand sat at Mai's empty seat and cleared his throat.

"Lords and ladies of the council," he addressed the gathered youkai. "As a newly appointed head of the Fox Clan I owe you all explanation, why were you summoned at this mostly unexpected time. I shall introduce myself. My name is Kichisaburo and I will be taking the place in the council as a regular member to represent my clan instead of deceased lord Ichizo."

"Deceased?" Mai repeated, slightly in shock. "He is dead?"

Kichisaburo nodded.

"I am afraid so. The leader has been assassinated this afternoon in the imperial palace by some human nobleman, who was jealous of his position on the court. I believe, that lord Ichizo underestimated the humans." The fox demon said sadly.

The girl's eyes widened and she nearly gasped, hearing news. Ichizo assassinated?! The kitsune-youkai told, that it was a job of some nobleman, but Mai knew perfectly, that it wasn't true. The one responsible for that was Naraku. Earlier she blurted out accidentally, that she wanted be the leader and the plotting villain apparently took it very seriously. Crap! She never killed anyone in her entire life and now it turned out, that the assassination was like commissioned by her! To make the matters worse, she was kind of scheming it with Naraku, of all the people. She was beginning to doubt herself – didn't that make her a villain as well?

Kichisaburo continued explaining everything, as all eyes were turned to him.

"Naturally, lady Anzu as the previous vice-leader will take the post of the leader of the organization."

He carried on, while everyone agreed.

Mai felt, as though her eyes would fall out of the sockets. Leader of the evil organization? Her? Well, she just had to add it to the list of her recent malicious deeds, along with keeping tied up children in her closet and orchestrating an assassination. Oh, she forgot spying and working for the enemy under cover. The list was pretty long – she only hoped, that it wouldn't get any longer from now on.

"What about Ichizo's plan?" the Raccoon Clan's leader Sadao asked, omitting the previous lord's honorary title, what made Kitchisaburo frown.

"It should be continued." Kou of the Swan Clan said, gaining nods from some other council members. Goro the turtle cleared his throat, forcing the demons to fall silent.

"That is only for the leader to decide." He stated firmly, before looking in Mai's eyes. "Lady Anzu, what say you?"

Mai nearly flinched, as all eyes turned to her, anticipating her answer. The girl was fully aware, that she couldn't allow herself to be out of character now. She just got a chance one in a million and didn't want to waste it. She looked at the council members with a harsh grimace on her face, trying hard to put an air of a villain.

"As the leader of the Alliance of a Flame, I can promise you one – soon we shall destroy the Dog Clan and grasp the domination over all youkai and humans! I will lead you along the path of the supreme conquest towards our victory!" she spoke in a most confident tone she could muster. If only she added an evil cackle, it would be a classic villain's speech. Damn, Sesshomaru would kill her on the spot, should he heard it.

The council members clapped, apparently satisfied by her speech. Mai felt like swelling with pride, for she didn't expect, that she had acting skills like that. The girl glanced at the medallion, she desired to obtain – now it was hanging around her neck. She hated to admit it, but she was extremely grateful to Naraku for that. With the key in her hands she was closer to freeing the kids than ever.

Even though she was so close, her goal felt still away. The girl wanted to run to the treasury to get the children, but she was stuck in the prolonging council meeting, where she had to speak, what was expected of the leader of the Alliance. Unwillingly, she accepted to carry on with the original plan to trap Sesshomaru and kill him. As the dog demon would never reach Kyoto, she felt, that she could rest assured. The lockdown was a bother, but at the next sunrise she would already be flying with the kids southwards, so she agreed on the farce.

After the council meeting Kichisaburo took them on a tour to inspect the Machine, which had been taken out of the treasury earlier and was now standing in a middle of the inner yard, surrounded by guards. The fox demon explained in detail, how it was supposed to work, but Mai already knew it, as she learned that from Ichizo. Then, the other council members returned to their quarters, while the new leader of the Fox Clan showed Mai her new cabinet. The girl opened the door, using her exclusive key and peeked inside, but decided to roam through the room later, if ever at all. Mai turned on her heel, wanting to carry out her real mission, but Kichisaburo stopped her.

"Wait!" he said slowly. "There is one more thing, you should know."
Mai gazed at him questioningly, while the fox demon showed her the opposite way than to her rooms and ushered her to walk upstairs.

"You must meet a certain person." Kichisaburo continued, as they were climbing higher and higher.

Mai noticed, that the place was extremely heavily guarded, just like the treasury. Something important must be up here. Or rather someone.

"Who is this person?" she asked.

"Thanks to him our plan has become possible." The kitsune-youkai told her. "He is the very inventor of the Machine. Master Gihei is a very old and wise youkai, a genius. Therefore he is most precious for us."

Mai and Kichisaburo stopped before the massive door. Seeing him, the guards unlocked and opened it.

The chamber was in a general disarray – the sketches and writing utensils were scattered everywhere on the floor and several tables. In the middle of the chaos sat a small, barely noticeable figure, bent in half from the old age and wrinkled. To his back was a turtle shell attached, so Mai had the idea, what kind of youkai master Gihei was. The inventor was sketching something on a piece of paper, muttering under his nose. As soon as the whole page became covered in writing, he simply threw it away and began sketching anew. He seemed to be so focused on his work, that he didn't notice the intruders in his room.

"This is master Gihei." Kichisaburo mumbled, looking at the old youkai with slight disgust, as though there was a lowly form of life before his eyes.
Suddenly the old man curled one of his sketches into a ball and threw it at the fox demon, targeting his head. Kichisaburo swiftly stepped aside, avoiding being hit and frowned.

"Get out of there! You're disturbing my work!" Gihei grumbled, returning to sketching.

Muttering curses under his nose, the fox demon showed Mai out of the room and then he returned her to her chambers. He bowed politely and left her.

The girl stepped inside, not to rise any suspicions and began to wonder, what should she do now. It was around midnight already, but there was still too much time till the tomorrow sunrise. How could she free Rin and Kohaku without drawing unnecessary attention? It could be hard to smuggle the hostages before the noses of the guards and the kids were supposed to stay inside the treasury for one more day. But, she couldn't allow them to remain there, as there was execution planned the day after tomorrow. She had to do it now. But how? She couldn't free them just like that, even though she was the boss now. The eyes of youkai were focused on her now more than ever, so she had to act with extra caution. One wrong step and the three of them would end up dead. What should she do?

Mai heard rattling in the closet.

"Be quiet." She muttered.

Then a brilliant idea came to her. Actually, there was a way for her to break the kids out of the prison without raising the suspicious. Risky, but risk was an inseparable element of a spy's job. The girl stomped towards the closet and, with some effort, she pushed the heavy commode aside. Taking a deep breath, she took the ofuda off and opened the closet.

The two little crow youkai squinted their eyes, blinded by the light of the lamps. They tried to struggle and scream, but Mai had bound and gagged them well. The girl crouched beside the terrified boys and narrowed her eyes, making a scary grimace.

"Listen up, you two." She began, trying to make her voice sound threatening. "I need you to cooperate. If you don't, I will kill you."

The girl accented her words by flexing her fingers, now clad in the clawed gloves. The boys stilled, staring at her with their eyes opened wide. Mai decided to continue.

"I will tell you, what I want from you now. We're going to take a little stroll and I want you to behave normally. If you try to run away, scream or make something suspicious, I'll murder you." She said in a low tone, feeling guilty for bluffing like that. "Is that understood?"

The crow kids didn't answer, but kept staring at her, shivering slightly. Mai furrowed her brows.

"Is that understood?" she repeated and the children frantically nodded.

The girl used her razor-sharp silver claws to cut the ropes, while holding the already used ofuda in her other hand. She hoped, that the bluff would work, for that was her only chance.

"Where's mother?" the younger boy asked her with fear in his eyes.

"On your feet." Mai commanded, ignoring the kid. Actually, she felt sorry for the both of them – they were so little and they were orphans already. To make the matter worse for them, she was using them as her hostages. She felt horrible for mistreating the children, but reminded herself, that she had no other choice.

The boys stood up, their knees buckling. The girl placed her hands on the each boy's shoulder, keeping her silver claws close to their throats. She knew perfectly, that she wouldn't be able to kill anyone, especially a child, but hopefully the little crows were unaware of that. Mai ushered the kids out of the room and followed the path to the treasury. Fortunately, she had memorized this route well and didn't get lost along the way. The crow demons were silent and scared, so they weren't much of a problem. Once the girl reached the massive iron door, she opened the treasury and stepped inside, without raising the guard's suspicions.

"Move." She said to the boys, who slowed down, afraid to walk down the dark creepy corridor.

The older one grabbed the hand of his younger brother and gave it an encouraging squeeze.

"Are you going to kill us?" he asked unsurely, his voice trembling.

"If you listen to me, no." Mai replied, pushing the children forward. She was lucky, that lady Anzu's sons were taking her for some powerful demoness. If they knew, that she was just a human, they wouldn't be so cooperative. The girl opened the door to the chamber, where Rin and Kohaku were being held and stepped in, ushering her own hostages to go inside first.

Rin's head snapped open, as the door opened with a creek. The girl squinted her eyes, seeing the bright light of the oil lamps from the corridor. Instinctively she moved closer to Kohaku and grabbed his hand, scared. There was always dark in their prison, so Rin wasn't able to tell how much time passed since she had been kidnapped, but knew, that she and Kohaku would be killed soon. However, she harbored hope, that Sesshomaru-sama would come for her and save her, as he always did. But, now this hope faded, as she saw a dark silhouette in the doorway. It was hard to discern the person well in the dim light, but she recognized her nonetheless. Since the imprisonment only three people visited them – the two fox demons and a dark lady, clad in black feathery robe.

The person, who came now, was her. The black clothing was melting with the shadows, but Rin noticed the ominous gleam of the razor-sharp silver claws. The child gulped. Did she come to kill them? The lady brought also two boys, looking like some relatives of hers. Rin's eyes widened with fear. The bird demoness came here to feed her children! The little girl let out a whiny sound and cuddled to Kohaku, who put his arms around her in a protective gesture.

The demoness used the medallion to open the door to the cell. Rin was sure, that her suspicions were right. Not even once the barred door opened since they had been locked in this dark place. They would be dead soon!

"Sesshomaru-sama." The little girl whispered, her voice trembling with panic.

The demoness pushed the crow children inside.

"Hey, you two, come over here!" she called to Rin and Kohaku.

Rin stiffened, hearing the voice. It was very familiar. Slowly, she turned her head to see the youkai woman. The child squinted her eyes, trying to discern the face features in the dim light.

"Mai?" she asked unsurely. The demoness's carmine lips curled into the wide smile.

"That's right!" she said with self-satisfaction. "Now, come here."
Rin unglued herself from Kohaku and darted forward, passing the crow children by.

"Mai!" she exclaimed, throwing herself at the older girl and putting her little arms tightly around her waist.

Mai smiled fondly, glad to be reunited with Rin, and hugged the adorable kid back.

"It's alright now. Everything will be fine." She said gently, patting the little girl's back.

Mai was extremely happy to have Rin back at her side, and Kohaku too, of course. However, she had to remember, that it was her responsibility to keep everyone safe and sound. Once the kids were outside the cell, leaving the two crow youkai inside, she glared at the boys in her most intimidating way.

"Strip." She commanded harshly.

Everyone stared at her and blinked, confused.

"Take off your clothes." She rephrased her order, making an impatient face expression. She narrowed her eyes at lady Anzu's sons. "Or I'll kill you."

Apparently she was quite convincing, because the boys began to remove their clothing, their hands shaking, as they stole terrified glances at Mai. Even Rin seemed to feel a little uneasy around the older girl now, for she never had seen her friend acting like that before.

Once the crow demons were in their undies, Mai made a gesture with her hand and they passed her the clothes. She slammed the cell door shut and handed Rin and Kohaku the outfits.

"All right, put them on." She said.

"Eh?" Rin tilted her head, not understanding, what Mai had in mind. The older girl sighed.

"I'll explain later. Just do it, okay?" She said, before turning to the little crows. "Hey, you two! What're your names?"

The older boy bit his lower lip, but decided to answer her.

"My name is Fumihiro and this is Eijiro." He replied, pointing his younger brother.

Mai whirled around to see Rin and Kohaku standing like a pair of idiots, holding the piles of clothing. She sighed.

"Hurry up and change the clothes." She hurried the kids. "From now on you are crow youkai."


Author Note:

... and? Everyone, who reviewed, thanks for the support; I love you, folks. Anyway, please keep commenting, because I'm all too eager to post the whole story already. Remember, 10 comments and I'm uploading the next chapter, pinky promise.

Moreover, ekhem:

This summer...