24Universe: Inuyasha, Yu Yu Hakusho
Main characters: Kagome, Yoko Kurama, Kuronue
Winged people. Their niche in the world was unclear. Legends told of their feathers, when gifted willingly, brought good luck or granted wishes. Some tales said that winged people carried the hopes and dreams of humanity to heaven when the being died. Other stories painted the angel-like creatures as omens of conflict to come. Stories told of there being a whole tribe of them in ancient times. Now, there was only ever one at a time. As soon as one passed, the next child born with holy power was also born with the wings.
Kagome was one such creature. But even more unique amongst them since she was a hybrid to begin with, the offspring of a wolf youkai father and a human mother of a spiritually gifted family.
The timing of her birth led her to her current predicament. Nobody anticipated that being a winged person would amplify the effects of her heat a hundred fold. Probably because there were never hybrids.
"Tch," she grit her teeth as she soared through the sky. Her snow white wings that spanned over 4 meters were built to glide long distances with one beat, not to outmaneuver. Her head start in escape quickly lost meaning as she felt the youki of a bat youkai smother her.
"Kagome-chan, why are you running?" her temporary enemy sang as he appeared in front of her in a blur.
"I'm technically flying, you horny, old bat." Instead of stopping herself from crashing into him, she grabbed his smug, crossed arms and swung him sideways and down into the forest below. He took down a tree and dust erupted around him on impact. Her wings beat twice as she paused to find her other adversary before continuing on. No, Kagome wasn't agile in the sky so she had to make up for it with strength. The sky wolf maiden (as people had come to call the odd creature) was much more capable on the ground but not today.
Down below as Kuronue dug himself out of the rubble, a silver creature darted through the dust and wove through the trees as easily as if it were running across a cleared field. Indeed, sometimes it seemed the foliage moved out of its path. A fox, as large as an ox, with nine tails just as long as its body flew through the forest directly beneath her, just waiting for her to fall within pouncing distance. Kagome was fast on her feet but not when the forest was against her. She eyed the branches of trees that seemed to stretch unnaturally towards the sky. The sea was her destination. The fox could not follow far above the sea and she could then focus her attention on one annoyance. Although, Kuronue would probably preen at her exclusive attention.
A small cough forced itself from her throat and after 3 more stronger ones she realized something was wrong. The female blinked rapidly, eyes starting to water, and tiny particles of pollen floated in her vision. A bit ahead of her, flowers that most certainly did not belong on those particular trees waved at her in the breeze. Her wings gave a powerful beat and dispelled the poison from her surroundings but it was too late, she descended in dizziness towards a waiting predator.
Instead of trying to remain airborne, she focused instead on purifying the toxins from her body. The expanse of her wings scattered into pillow soft feathers as she fell, dissolving with a sparkle and then with no trace. Within her, her blood carried her purification powers to seek out and destroy what ailed her. By the time she hit the ground, barely landing on her feet with a stumble, the poison was gone and she regained her bearings. A bow of light materialized in her grasp as she parried a thorned vine whip aimed to wrap around her wrist.
An even voice spoke, "Kagome-chan, so nice of you to join me, I was almost jealous of your and Kuronue's game in the sky. You know I cannot fly for long."
"I'm always telling you to practice condensing your youki into a cloud like Sesshomaru-sama but noooo. You don't want to be like a dog." She rolled her eyes.
The fox demon, now in humanoid form, hissed. "Must you speak of another male while I woo you?"
"This isn't wooing. This is trying to capture and annoy me into a mating. Ugh. I hate this time of year. You two are so unbearable." Kagome grumbled as Kuronue flickered onto a branch behind her.
"Sweety, if you want it all the stop, you can always give in." He casually swung his red diamond pendant, a gift from the spoils of Kagome's first heist. "Aren't you getting tired of the chase? And we get closer every year. It's inevitable." He swapped his pendant for his scythe and charged towards his female comrade.
Vines wrapped around her feet but she sent reiki down to her ankles to repel them. Her yearly heat limited her purification powers but as long as she wasn't shooting off arrows left and right, she could use it defensively.
"You know I don't want to be tied down to a mate yet." She jumped back, twisting in the air to avoid Kuronue's chain and a few vines oozing sticky sap. She landed on a branch and pushed off of it to soar over their heads. As soon as she hit the ground, she took off running. Purification energy wrapped around her boot clad feet to keep youki filled plants from tripping her. Any taller demonic plants she had to avoid by agility, not willing to waste valuable reiki.
Yoko was hot on her heels. Kuronue was not far behind. At one point, the silver fox demon's claws ghosted the ends of her raven locks. "You spend almost all your time with us. It'll be us in the end."
"Because you keep scaring away all the males. Not that I'm ungrateful." Kagome felt the fox's breath against her skin. A low hanging branch forced her to skid under it but she grabbed onto Yoko's white tunic with one hand as she went down, muddying them both before she threw him under her and used him as a springboard to headbutt Kuronue, who had flown over the branch at that very moment, in his groin. They both went down on top of an irritated Yoko, but Kuronue had a much harder time recovering than Kagome.
The young woman pushed herself up and blew pieces of hair out of her face before launching into a sprint. A thin line of light peeked out on the horizon. Yoko's claws pricked her neck and Kagome halted her run. The sun greeted them from the east and Yoko paused before lowering his hand. He examined the beading of blood on her neck and flexed his fingers.
"Oh? So, nearly successful this time," the male mused.
"In your dreams, fox boy." Kagome panted with hands on her knees. She straightened. "Kuronue, are you okay?" The hybrid called out.
"Oh...just peachy…," he moaned from the ground.
"Sorry! It's your own fault though."
"My fault?" He pushed himself to sitting. "It's not my fault you have the worst heat pheromones in the history of forever. You're just lucky it only lasts one day. And that we spend the first half of the day slaughtering a quarter of our cannon fodder members to keep them from jumping you."
"Better luck next time boys." She flipped her hair over her shoulders.
Yoko smirked. "Careful with wishing us luck. Next time might be the last time."
The End?