Here she was. Now Inuko had to choose. Choose between the first man to ever show interest in her and the most timid of her friends. This wasn’t easy, not even for her. All those years of having other women beat her to Urashima left her starved for affection, and Kiba seemed to have it in spades. But Jun was her friend. She had never truly abandoned her, although she was always the first to go running off for help. But that was just her nature.

Who she really hated was this Okuri jerk. He had complete control over his brothers, and could even turn them against her. If she could just take him out of the picture…..no, then Kiba would be hurt. And besides, he was definitely the strongest of the three, so killing him was out of the question. Things would become very different if he succeeded in becoming Shogun.

Kiba turned slowly, sword still drawn. “Please, this isn’t a good way to start anything other than a clan war. I’m not going to hurt anyone I don’t have to.” He said. He wasn’t lying, Inuko could tell that. But he whispered under his breath the way the Wolf brothers seemed to do frequently. “Unless they piss me off.” She guessed this was their way of deceit: forced to quietly mention minor details because they were somehow incapable of lying. “I really don’t want to fight you.”

Inuko pointed the tip of her blade at Kiba. He gently pushed it aside with his, almost apologetically, as if this was nothing more than a minor misunderstanding. But she could not ‘misunderstand’ someone, no matter who it was, being seconds away from cutting up one of her friends. She pulled her sword back and swung low. Cutting her opponent off at the knees was one of her favorite tactics. It left them lying on their faces, helpless, and it didn’t cause her as much guilt as killing someone.