Fan Fiction / Wolf's Rain Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ My Father, The Outlaw ❯ Speech of the Prisoner ( Chapter 7 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: chickenlover2 
Sorry...this has been up on ff.net for awhile. I only now decided to post it here because since I was putting pics up anyways...Yeah.
I'm working on the 9th chapter right now.
It's partially finished.
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction / Wolf's Rain Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy / Adventure | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 11.02.2005 | Pages: 4 | Words: 4.5K | Visits: 318 | Status: Work In Progress
Sorry...this has been up on ff.net for awhile. I only now decided to post it here because since I was putting pics up anyways...Yeah.
I'm working on the 9th chapter right now.
It's partially finished.
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction / Wolf's Rain Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy / Adventure | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 11.02.2005 | Pages: 4 | Words: 4.5K | Visits: 318 | Status: Work In Progress
I let her get kidnaped again. She’s probably so stressed out now that she’ll have reopened her wound. This sucks.
I’ve proven to be about the worst companion and protector. At least I’m still better than Shippo...right?
So here I am, following the scent that was left in the blown apart building. Shippo’s talking to that girl we found. They seem to be very devastated that Kagome was kidnaped. But I can’t possibly imagine why.
Stupid kids.
All I could really tell from the scent was that it was a human who did it. Yup, just one. A woman. It was hard to find the scent since whatever made the building explode also covered all scents in or around the building with the sickeningly sweet smell of so many roses . But the woman was careless and dropped a piece of reddish armor.
“Say, Kanna, how come you’re carrying those clothes?”
“Miss Kagome asked me to fetch them for her.”
Sure is a devoted little girl.
A southerly wind blew in. It was warm in the increasingly colder climate here, but it held a chilling scent.
“W-what’s that smell?”
I guess he is a fox.
“Listen, you two are going to hide in the trees. I’m going to keep going and I’ll come back for you.”
I set them down near the base of a tree. And took a long look at them. Shippo was scared, that was easy enough to see. Kanna looked...well she had a weird look on her face. Like she was having trouble deciding something.
“Head south if I’m not back by midnight tomorrow.”
I turned on my heel and started off.
“Wait!”
Sure is a demanding little girl.
“I would like to come with you. Miss Kagome asked me to give her these clothes and I need to honor her. Also, you might not be able to come back for us after you have rescued Miss Kagome. It would be easier if we were closer to...”
I stayed silent. I didn’t want her and Shippo to know where Kagome was being held at.
“...Um, where she is. It would be more practical. Please let us-.”
“No.”
I thought that Shippo would definitely back me.
“I think Kanna’s right. Plus we can help you!”
Great, a fox wannabe and some little sorceress. We’ve got the best team ever.
“You aren’t gonna give up?”
They shook their heads.
“Fine. But you have to promise not to die.”
“You promise first.”
My eyes must have widened. I could feel the air traveling across the moist deserts.
But...why should they care if I live or die? I’ve never done anything for them...
Scenes of killing Shippo’s father’s killer and freeing Kanna from the bandits came to mind.
Okay, but I’ve never been nice to them. But still they would care for me. Kanna’s already so devoted to this little group. It’s amazing that only a little while ago I thought dying would be such a pleasure after being hunted for so long.
I’d still die without regret, but now it would be to save my...friends. When did I start thinking of them as friends instead of annoyances or companions? When did we start to become a family?
“Yeah, okay, I promise.”
“Me too!”
“I promise.”
And so we were settled. We would not die this time. Or perhaps any other time.
We had made a promise. And we would keep it to the very end. When we would no longer be able to keep that promise.
#~#~#
“Ya know...she does kinda look like da Chief.”
“Naw...the Chief has brown hair! And those weird eyes.”
“Plus he’s a tan one.”
“Fine! She don’t look nothin’ like da Chief! Jubeezus, ya’d think I’d get more respe’t than this.”
“What would you deserve it for, Masty? Worst grammar?”
“Oh, look at Mr. High ‘n’ mighty! Thinks he’s da ruler or somethin’! Well, ya ain’t Grefy! Ha!”
“My god, you are a moron!”
“Shuddup, you two. The Chief don’t want nothing to happen to this girl. So just shuddup.”
“A’ight a’ready! Jubeezus, Remy.”
The girl stirred but didn’t wake up.
“Lookie! She’s havin’ a dream.”
“Shaddup!”
“My god.”
#~#~#
This time, everything was...grey. I was running, and I could smell something horrible. I turned a corner and there was a low building in front of me. It reeked of...fur? I crept inside and saw so many bodies, my family, no the family of whose body I was in was strung upon the walls. Mother, mate, children and the most horrific crime, Father. And there, also, was the pack.
I thought of the way my mother had nudged me awake when I was young, the way my mate had chewed on my fur as she slept and the way my children jumped all over me, licking and biting. My pack was my life, there was nothing left for me. Then Father. He was too worthy for this place, too powerful.
There was chuckling behind me, it sounded distorted, as if coming through water. I turned and there stood the killer. He grinned and said something.
“Good puppy, I’m betting these are some people you know, huh?”
I left, leaving the man on the ground with a long narrow cut on his neck.
“I’ll come back for you, my family.”
#~#~#
I raised my hand to my head and tried to scratch it. My hand met with some resistance.
“Woah there, bugger. Relax. Your hand is pretty beat up from the ride here.”
My eyes snapped open while the memory of what had happened came. There was a man kneeling by me with a wet rag, he was smiling.
“I’m Remy. I know who ya are, no need ta say it.”
Remy was overly skinny. As if he didn’t eat. There was a light stubble on his slightly pudgy face and a light sheen of sweat on his forehead. His eyebrows were thick but not bushy, his hair was cut almost to the scalp and was a brownish-red.
He got up and left the rag on my forehead which I did not appreciate. I didn’t have a fever.
“Hey, Masty! Go an’ get the Chief! She’s up!”
“Jubeezus! I gotta do e’ryt’in’?”
“As long as ya’re the one nearby!”
Remy grinned and sat down in the doorway. He didn’t notice me looking at him, he was waving at someone that I couldn’t see.
I wish this guy would tell me where I am. Or what happened. Maybe the building collapsed and Inuyasha had to take me to a village or something.
But what was that orb?
Remy suddenly jumped to his feet. He grinned but I thought he looked tense.
“She’s right there, sir.”
“Thank you, you can go.”
I lay still. There seemed to be another man coming in, I couldn’t see him very well. He took up most of the doorway. He glanced around the room before turning his head toward me.
“Ah, welcome home, little one.”
What the? The man came closer and fell into a cross legged position. His hands were neatly folded behind his head.
“I was able to finally find you. I searched for you since the day I found out you were born. It was nearly impossible. But it almost seems as if you were looking for me as well, hmm?”
I tried to give him a weird stare to tell him I thought he was crazy, since my tongue seemed to have dried up in my mouth.
“I would have let you walk in on your own but you were injured so I wanted to have you escorted. Too bad I sent an amateur. But no worries, you’re home and you’ll be treated.”
So Inuyasha hadn’t brought me here, I was kidnaped. This wasn’t good. It seemed I was now alone with some mental guy.
“I’m just so happy to have you home. It took me so long. And I never would have found you if that witch hadn’t died.”
Witch. He means mother.
“How dare you! You-“
A hand was clamped over my mouth. It smelled of sap, hide and sweat.
“Hush, you haven’t heard the whole of it. I’m sure that woman told you so many lies, but you must believe only me.” He leaned in close and I could finally see his face. High cheek bones, full lips, straight nose, thin eyebrows, sandy hair, almost brown skin but his eyes...”For I am your true father, believe me.”
I would have protested if his hand wasn’t so firmly wedged over my mouth. He couldn’t be the one who I had been looking for. He was...
He zoomed in closer, his eyes were huge. They were very light, almost white, and it seemed that they were neither a solid color nor a color sprinkled with another. His eyes had blue and brown, green and purple, the colors swirled together in a circle, light around the pupil and the edges and lighter in between.
“That witch stole you from me and hid away where I could not find her. She thought that...Never mind. You’re home, that’s all that matters.”
How he hadn’t noticed I had been glaring at him through his talk was odd.
“Now, I’m sure you have many things to tell me of your life. Go on,” He moved his hand away, “tell me it.”
“You aren’t my father. Mother told me my father was-“
”Oh darling, everything that witch said was false. She was a liar and she cursed people without second thought. She slew a horde of warriors with a snap of her fingers for telling her to move out of their way. She whispered deaths in her sleep, as if she thought she wielded the scythe of death herself. She...”
Mother. She could never do those things. She was my mother and nothing more. She was a healer and she loved me.
I rolled onto my side, away from him. He kept speaking about her deeds but more slowly. His voice was deep and would have been comforting if it wasn’t telling of all these evil things.
“She once threw a babe into a river thinking it was possessed. She gave a starving animal poison and burned it’s body. She once...”
There was something within me that wanted to cry once more, for the supposed crimes of my mother. But there was a stronger something that nagged me about this man. He seemed so familiar.
“Who are you?”
There was a pause in his chronicle and, to my discomfort, he put his large hand on my hand.
“Your father. I already told you.”
“But my father is Robin Hood. Not some guy in a village.”
I started when he laughed. It was booming and I was pretty sure Inuyasha would be able to find the guy just by hearing the laugh, no matter if he was across the mountains or in the depths of a lake.
“My dear, I am Robin Hood. I would tell more of myself, but I should not bore you. I’m sure you know the tales of me.”
“So, I’m in a village of bandits? Where are my friends?”
“Friends? I suppose you must have made friends back where the witch kept you but they’re gone. The village was-“
”No, I meant Inuyasha, Shippo and Kanna. Where are they?”
“I’m sorry, darling, the village was-“
”They were traveling with me. They would have been near the hut somewhere.”
“All your escort saw was an empty village and some meat with fur.”
What does he mean by that? Did the person see Inuyasha bringing in some food or...what?
“Excuse me?”
“Hmm?”
I think he was getting tired of sitting in here with me. His hand was slowly sliding off my head and I could hear nervous noises behind me.
“What did you mean, ‘meat with fur’?”
“Oh, that. That’s just the term around here for wolves and such animals out there.”
“But, you don’t eat wolves...right?”
A chill had gone up my spine as he said wolves. But he must know that it wasn’t wise to eat wolves, they would always come back for you in a pack.
“When times are hard. But we usually just store the meat we gather.”
“Gather?”
How can you ‘gather’ meat. And why would any sensible person hunt wolves? For what reason?
I heard Robin sigh behind me and his hand fully slipped from my head.
“Yes. I’ll show you tomorrow what I mean. I wish I could show a live demonstration but most of the animals have migrated over the mountains. So, you’ll have to settle for second best.”
He left after awhile. I lay still and thought of what he could be saying. What could have happened to my friends? They were the first to befriend me in such a long time. Did I lose them to some maniacal bandit?
Did I lose them to my father, who they had been helping me search for?
Instead of trying to figure things out, I took the easy way and forced myself to sleep.
#~#~#
‘Oh man, where’d he disappear to?’
Everything around the two dots was white. Pure, simple white everywhere. No green, brown, grey, nothing. It was as if a blanket had been thrown over the mountain landscape. A freezing, bitter and wet blanket. The wolves were not thrilled to be in the midst of this without their leader.
‘How should I know?’
‘I wasn’t asking you.’
‘Then who were you asking? There isn’t anyone else out here!’
The wolves growled and tried facing off. But they ended up huddling up together instead. They had recently dug a small space to free some snow from it. And they were not about to step out of it, freezing their paws, just to fight about Kouga.
‘I don’t think Kouga’s coming back for us.’
‘No, he’s probably across the mountains by now.’
‘All warm and sunny over there.’
‘Deer running all over the place, just waiting to be eaten.’
The two sighed and leaned into each other. They made no move to leave, only stared into the desert of snow.
‘Think we should get moving?’
‘Probably.’
So, they finally lifted themselves and slowly wandered towards the pass. They hadn’t realized that Kouga had been sleeping in a cave he found for the last couple of hours. But Kouga would catch up. He was always so fast for being an ordinary wolf.
#~#~#
Okay, I admit it. My tongue was flopping out of my mouth like a dog’s. But I had reason for it.
I was on a dangerous mission to find Kagome.
...
Okay, Inuyasha stuffed me into a knothole and expected me to hear about where Kagome was. But it was small in here and I was too warm in my fur.
I guess Inuyasha, with his limited thinking space had never thought of putting me in the tree’s branches. It even had a plentiful amount of pine needles to shield me from view. And it would be so much cooler up there.
I could see a few people, but they couldn’t see me, very luckily. There was a man planting something in a patch of dirt, a woman peeling corn and someone tied to a pole.
That someone was a woman. Her black hair was tied into a high bun and she was sitting up pretty straight. She was wearing...umm, some kind of brown dress type thing. It was pretty beat up but at least it came down to her ankles. She was sitting cross-legged.
And that’s all that I could see. She was facing away from me.
No one really came around this spot, but I had to wait for Inuyasha to come back and get me, I couldn’t move otherwise.
“...Yeah, da chief seems in a gooder mood taday. Watcha ya thank?”
Finally there came voice. And another one too.
“He looked plenty happy going in. Not so much coming out.”
This talk isn’t helping.
And then I saw two people walk over to the pole. One was a tall blonde, I couldn’t see him too well, him being so far away, he was slouching a bit and his right leg didn’t look right. The other person was a woman who was actually taller than the her partner. She had brown hair and walked in better posture than the guy. They stopped in front of the woman tied to the pole.
“I’m guessing she’s hungry.”
“Eh, ta bad. She wasn’t ta much hel’. Totally ruined da girl’s hand.”
I would have thought the man was the one talking weirdly. The woman bent down to the girls eye level.
“Next time, ya betta be more car’ful.”
Then she spit into the other girl’s face. The man didn’t look like he was smiling...but he didn’t look like he cared that much.
The woman stood up and walked off, the man stayed a bit longer. I couldn’t tell exactly what he was doing except that he was looking at the tied up woman. In the end he left the same way as the one before him.
Through all this I had to wonder, why didn’t that tied up chick just spit back in her face, or kick out with her legs or just say something. Instead she took it like she was a doll.
A couple of hours passed, still no sign of any real conversations about to happen about Kagome. No one came to give the woman food or water so I guessed she must be on punishment
Another couple hours passed and it started to get dark. Still no one came to the woman.
Maybe she’s dead?
No one else was around, the planter had gone away awhile back and the woman peeling the corn had left before it got dark, getting tugged away by a couple kids.
Should I risk it?
“Heeeeeeeeey...Are you dead?”
No answer.
“Lady?”
Silence.
“I have some food back in my pocket.”
Her head jerked up and her hands twitched behind her back.
So she’s interested. Now if I can just pop free of here.
I wiggled till my arms were blue and scratched. Then out popped an arm. Then the other. And I was free! I guess a bit of wiggling can get you out of a tough spot. But it did take me over an hour. By the time I was done, it was pitch dark outside.
I edged towards the woman and slowly brought out the biscuit Kanna had given me. It tasted like molded bread but I suppose this lady would be hungry.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you about the taste though. Mold, eww.”
I held it up to her mouth.
She was pretty, I guess. She was blind folded so I couldn’t see her eyes. I did see why she hadn’t said anything to me or anyone else when she opened her mouth to take the food.
A part of her tongue had been cut off, not the whole thing but enough so it was painful and awkward.
“Jeez, what did you do? You must have done something really bad if they did this to you.”
She just chewed her biscuit.
“Well, I have to go back. But I’ll try and come back, kay?”
I ran off a bit then turned around and came back to her.
“By the way, my name’s Shippo.”
#~#~#
‘Did you get anything, runt?’
‘Nope. But I did-‘
’NO?!’
Inuyasha started pacing and growling. His tail was twitching and he obviously wasn’t listening to a word Shippo was saying.
I just went on eating some berries I had found. There was some other late berries and a couple of apples, but nothing very filling. Inuyasha had went to hunt earlier but came up with nothing.
‘Inuyasha! Can you not hear me?’
Shippo had jumped onto Inuyasha’s head and was screaming at him. I started to get up, watching the two carefully.
Tension had been up since we got to the edge of the camp. Inuyasha had been bothered about something, probably Kagome but I wasn’t sure. Shippo hadn’t been acting all that strange other than his nightmares when he slept. I figured those were normal, I have plenty of nightmares of the past.
Shippo was biting Inuyasha’s head while the dog-wolf growled and snapped.
What if someone from the camp hears them?
I stayed quiet to see if they would stop but they kept at it. It was a mess and they were going to hurt one another soon.
“Shouldn’t you stop? They might hear you.”
For awhile everything kept going same as before. Then, Inuyasha transformed and ripped Shippo off himself.
“Stay here.”
And off he went.
‘Stupid, bossy dog. Doesn’t even try to listen to me...not fair.’
“Are you alright?”
The little fox transforms as well and wipes his face with his tiny hands. He looks up at me strangely, kind of frowning.
“If I tell you, you have to promise to help me.”
I nodded.
“Okay. Well, I found this prisoner...”
#~#~#
What is wrong with this place?
I was sitting in a tree, overlooking the village, my eyes were barely open but even then I could still see it. It was huge, there was an open field in the middle of it, a couple of dirt patches that I guess were for planting, a bunch of small cramped huts, narrow dirt roads and a couple of long houses.
And somewhere in that mess was Kagome. And I couldn’t do anything.
I had to wait for the chance to get in there and get her back. I was sure she couldn’t be happy here. This place was so wrong, nothing good could be residing here.
A harsh wind was starting up, bringing the chill of the near mountains with it. Clouds had swarmed the sky recently and it looked as if they might start letting their snow go before they hit the mountains. At least my winter coat had grown in some time ago.
I was slowly drifting off to sleep, warm and undisturbed.
“Yup, somethin’ to do with the girl bein’ brought in. Didn’t do too good a job on it so the chief got angry at ‘er.”
“Still don’t think it’s right ta tie ‘er to a pole an’ leave her thar. Ain’t happy wit’ it at all.”
“He could’ve just thrown her out inta the woods.”
I cracked an eye open to see two men talking below. One was leaning on a less than sturdy fence post and the other had hands tucked away in his coat. What they were talking about I wouldn’t know...it sounded like it might be important.
Let’s see, they said something about a girl being ‘brought’ in and someone being tied to a pole.
It clicked.
Kagome was being held somewhere. Tied to a pole? It was somewhere to start at least.
#~#~#
Phew. ^-^
I already know what I’m going to do with the sequel. Actually I’m kinda planning two more stories that are relevant to this one after I finish this one since there are so many loose ends that would take forever to tie up and would not fit in with Kagome looking for her father.
I know it took me forever to write this and it’s shorter than my last one but it took some thinking and inspiration.
I can’t remember what inspired me. I was just on the comp one time and I was like...I’m bored and I feel like writing. But none of my other stories were appealing to me at the moment since I was stuck on some weird parts in them. So I finally decided to give this one another go.
I tried to give Kanna a bit more time in her perspective but I guess I really didn’t. At least I gave Shippo more time than usual and was able to avoid Kagome’s for awhile. I always feel like I do too much in Kagome’s point of view. And then when I change perspective, Kagome is always falling asleep or something, which I also need to change soon.
You may be happy to know the second in this “trilogy” will be all about our dear Sango and possibly Miroku. This will be a challenge for me since I never write these two as main characters. I guess some research is due.
I think that’s all for now.
See ya later.
I’ve proven to be about the worst companion and protector. At least I’m still better than Shippo...right?
So here I am, following the scent that was left in the blown apart building. Shippo’s talking to that girl we found. They seem to be very devastated that Kagome was kidnaped. But I can’t possibly imagine why.
Stupid kids.
All I could really tell from the scent was that it was a human who did it. Yup, just one. A woman. It was hard to find the scent since whatever made the building explode also covered all scents in or around the building with the sickeningly sweet smell of so many roses . But the woman was careless and dropped a piece of reddish armor.
“Say, Kanna, how come you’re carrying those clothes?”
“Miss Kagome asked me to fetch them for her.”
Sure is a devoted little girl.
A southerly wind blew in. It was warm in the increasingly colder climate here, but it held a chilling scent.
“W-what’s that smell?”
I guess he is a fox.
“Listen, you two are going to hide in the trees. I’m going to keep going and I’ll come back for you.”
I set them down near the base of a tree. And took a long look at them. Shippo was scared, that was easy enough to see. Kanna looked...well she had a weird look on her face. Like she was having trouble deciding something.
“Head south if I’m not back by midnight tomorrow.”
I turned on my heel and started off.
“Wait!”
Sure is a demanding little girl.
“I would like to come with you. Miss Kagome asked me to give her these clothes and I need to honor her. Also, you might not be able to come back for us after you have rescued Miss Kagome. It would be easier if we were closer to...”
I stayed silent. I didn’t want her and Shippo to know where Kagome was being held at.
“...Um, where she is. It would be more practical. Please let us-.”
“No.”
I thought that Shippo would definitely back me.
“I think Kanna’s right. Plus we can help you!”
Great, a fox wannabe and some little sorceress. We’ve got the best team ever.
“You aren’t gonna give up?”
They shook their heads.
“Fine. But you have to promise not to die.”
“You promise first.”
My eyes must have widened. I could feel the air traveling across the moist deserts.
But...why should they care if I live or die? I’ve never done anything for them...
Scenes of killing Shippo’s father’s killer and freeing Kanna from the bandits came to mind.
Okay, but I’ve never been nice to them. But still they would care for me. Kanna’s already so devoted to this little group. It’s amazing that only a little while ago I thought dying would be such a pleasure after being hunted for so long.
I’d still die without regret, but now it would be to save my...friends. When did I start thinking of them as friends instead of annoyances or companions? When did we start to become a family?
“Yeah, okay, I promise.”
“Me too!”
“I promise.”
And so we were settled. We would not die this time. Or perhaps any other time.
We had made a promise. And we would keep it to the very end. When we would no longer be able to keep that promise.
#~#~#
“Ya know...she does kinda look like da Chief.”
“Naw...the Chief has brown hair! And those weird eyes.”
“Plus he’s a tan one.”
“Fine! She don’t look nothin’ like da Chief! Jubeezus, ya’d think I’d get more respe’t than this.”
“What would you deserve it for, Masty? Worst grammar?”
“Oh, look at Mr. High ‘n’ mighty! Thinks he’s da ruler or somethin’! Well, ya ain’t Grefy! Ha!”
“My god, you are a moron!”
“Shuddup, you two. The Chief don’t want nothing to happen to this girl. So just shuddup.”
“A’ight a’ready! Jubeezus, Remy.”
The girl stirred but didn’t wake up.
“Lookie! She’s havin’ a dream.”
“Shaddup!”
“My god.”
#~#~#
This time, everything was...grey. I was running, and I could smell something horrible. I turned a corner and there was a low building in front of me. It reeked of...fur? I crept inside and saw so many bodies, my family, no the family of whose body I was in was strung upon the walls. Mother, mate, children and the most horrific crime, Father. And there, also, was the pack.
I thought of the way my mother had nudged me awake when I was young, the way my mate had chewed on my fur as she slept and the way my children jumped all over me, licking and biting. My pack was my life, there was nothing left for me. Then Father. He was too worthy for this place, too powerful.
There was chuckling behind me, it sounded distorted, as if coming through water. I turned and there stood the killer. He grinned and said something.
“Good puppy, I’m betting these are some people you know, huh?”
I left, leaving the man on the ground with a long narrow cut on his neck.
“I’ll come back for you, my family.”
#~#~#
I raised my hand to my head and tried to scratch it. My hand met with some resistance.
“Woah there, bugger. Relax. Your hand is pretty beat up from the ride here.”
My eyes snapped open while the memory of what had happened came. There was a man kneeling by me with a wet rag, he was smiling.
“I’m Remy. I know who ya are, no need ta say it.”
Remy was overly skinny. As if he didn’t eat. There was a light stubble on his slightly pudgy face and a light sheen of sweat on his forehead. His eyebrows were thick but not bushy, his hair was cut almost to the scalp and was a brownish-red.
He got up and left the rag on my forehead which I did not appreciate. I didn’t have a fever.
“Hey, Masty! Go an’ get the Chief! She’s up!”
“Jubeezus! I gotta do e’ryt’in’?”
“As long as ya’re the one nearby!”
Remy grinned and sat down in the doorway. He didn’t notice me looking at him, he was waving at someone that I couldn’t see.
I wish this guy would tell me where I am. Or what happened. Maybe the building collapsed and Inuyasha had to take me to a village or something.
But what was that orb?
Remy suddenly jumped to his feet. He grinned but I thought he looked tense.
“She’s right there, sir.”
“Thank you, you can go.”
I lay still. There seemed to be another man coming in, I couldn’t see him very well. He took up most of the doorway. He glanced around the room before turning his head toward me.
“Ah, welcome home, little one.”
What the? The man came closer and fell into a cross legged position. His hands were neatly folded behind his head.
“I was able to finally find you. I searched for you since the day I found out you were born. It was nearly impossible. But it almost seems as if you were looking for me as well, hmm?”
I tried to give him a weird stare to tell him I thought he was crazy, since my tongue seemed to have dried up in my mouth.
“I would have let you walk in on your own but you were injured so I wanted to have you escorted. Too bad I sent an amateur. But no worries, you’re home and you’ll be treated.”
So Inuyasha hadn’t brought me here, I was kidnaped. This wasn’t good. It seemed I was now alone with some mental guy.
“I’m just so happy to have you home. It took me so long. And I never would have found you if that witch hadn’t died.”
Witch. He means mother.
“How dare you! You-“
A hand was clamped over my mouth. It smelled of sap, hide and sweat.
“Hush, you haven’t heard the whole of it. I’m sure that woman told you so many lies, but you must believe only me.” He leaned in close and I could finally see his face. High cheek bones, full lips, straight nose, thin eyebrows, sandy hair, almost brown skin but his eyes...”For I am your true father, believe me.”
I would have protested if his hand wasn’t so firmly wedged over my mouth. He couldn’t be the one who I had been looking for. He was...
He zoomed in closer, his eyes were huge. They were very light, almost white, and it seemed that they were neither a solid color nor a color sprinkled with another. His eyes had blue and brown, green and purple, the colors swirled together in a circle, light around the pupil and the edges and lighter in between.
“That witch stole you from me and hid away where I could not find her. She thought that...Never mind. You’re home, that’s all that matters.”
How he hadn’t noticed I had been glaring at him through his talk was odd.
“Now, I’m sure you have many things to tell me of your life. Go on,” He moved his hand away, “tell me it.”
“You aren’t my father. Mother told me my father was-“
”Oh darling, everything that witch said was false. She was a liar and she cursed people without second thought. She slew a horde of warriors with a snap of her fingers for telling her to move out of their way. She whispered deaths in her sleep, as if she thought she wielded the scythe of death herself. She...”
Mother. She could never do those things. She was my mother and nothing more. She was a healer and she loved me.
I rolled onto my side, away from him. He kept speaking about her deeds but more slowly. His voice was deep and would have been comforting if it wasn’t telling of all these evil things.
“She once threw a babe into a river thinking it was possessed. She gave a starving animal poison and burned it’s body. She once...”
There was something within me that wanted to cry once more, for the supposed crimes of my mother. But there was a stronger something that nagged me about this man. He seemed so familiar.
“Who are you?”
There was a pause in his chronicle and, to my discomfort, he put his large hand on my hand.
“Your father. I already told you.”
“But my father is Robin Hood. Not some guy in a village.”
I started when he laughed. It was booming and I was pretty sure Inuyasha would be able to find the guy just by hearing the laugh, no matter if he was across the mountains or in the depths of a lake.
“My dear, I am Robin Hood. I would tell more of myself, but I should not bore you. I’m sure you know the tales of me.”
“So, I’m in a village of bandits? Where are my friends?”
“Friends? I suppose you must have made friends back where the witch kept you but they’re gone. The village was-“
”No, I meant Inuyasha, Shippo and Kanna. Where are they?”
“I’m sorry, darling, the village was-“
”They were traveling with me. They would have been near the hut somewhere.”
“All your escort saw was an empty village and some meat with fur.”
What does he mean by that? Did the person see Inuyasha bringing in some food or...what?
“Excuse me?”
“Hmm?”
I think he was getting tired of sitting in here with me. His hand was slowly sliding off my head and I could hear nervous noises behind me.
“What did you mean, ‘meat with fur’?”
“Oh, that. That’s just the term around here for wolves and such animals out there.”
“But, you don’t eat wolves...right?”
A chill had gone up my spine as he said wolves. But he must know that it wasn’t wise to eat wolves, they would always come back for you in a pack.
“When times are hard. But we usually just store the meat we gather.”
“Gather?”
How can you ‘gather’ meat. And why would any sensible person hunt wolves? For what reason?
I heard Robin sigh behind me and his hand fully slipped from my head.
“Yes. I’ll show you tomorrow what I mean. I wish I could show a live demonstration but most of the animals have migrated over the mountains. So, you’ll have to settle for second best.”
He left after awhile. I lay still and thought of what he could be saying. What could have happened to my friends? They were the first to befriend me in such a long time. Did I lose them to some maniacal bandit?
Did I lose them to my father, who they had been helping me search for?
Instead of trying to figure things out, I took the easy way and forced myself to sleep.
#~#~#
‘Oh man, where’d he disappear to?’
Everything around the two dots was white. Pure, simple white everywhere. No green, brown, grey, nothing. It was as if a blanket had been thrown over the mountain landscape. A freezing, bitter and wet blanket. The wolves were not thrilled to be in the midst of this without their leader.
‘How should I know?’
‘I wasn’t asking you.’
‘Then who were you asking? There isn’t anyone else out here!’
The wolves growled and tried facing off. But they ended up huddling up together instead. They had recently dug a small space to free some snow from it. And they were not about to step out of it, freezing their paws, just to fight about Kouga.
‘I don’t think Kouga’s coming back for us.’
‘No, he’s probably across the mountains by now.’
‘All warm and sunny over there.’
‘Deer running all over the place, just waiting to be eaten.’
The two sighed and leaned into each other. They made no move to leave, only stared into the desert of snow.
‘Think we should get moving?’
‘Probably.’
So, they finally lifted themselves and slowly wandered towards the pass. They hadn’t realized that Kouga had been sleeping in a cave he found for the last couple of hours. But Kouga would catch up. He was always so fast for being an ordinary wolf.
#~#~#
Okay, I admit it. My tongue was flopping out of my mouth like a dog’s. But I had reason for it.
I was on a dangerous mission to find Kagome.
...
Okay, Inuyasha stuffed me into a knothole and expected me to hear about where Kagome was. But it was small in here and I was too warm in my fur.
I guess Inuyasha, with his limited thinking space had never thought of putting me in the tree’s branches. It even had a plentiful amount of pine needles to shield me from view. And it would be so much cooler up there.
I could see a few people, but they couldn’t see me, very luckily. There was a man planting something in a patch of dirt, a woman peeling corn and someone tied to a pole.
That someone was a woman. Her black hair was tied into a high bun and she was sitting up pretty straight. She was wearing...umm, some kind of brown dress type thing. It was pretty beat up but at least it came down to her ankles. She was sitting cross-legged.
And that’s all that I could see. She was facing away from me.
No one really came around this spot, but I had to wait for Inuyasha to come back and get me, I couldn’t move otherwise.
“...Yeah, da chief seems in a gooder mood taday. Watcha ya thank?”
Finally there came voice. And another one too.
“He looked plenty happy going in. Not so much coming out.”
This talk isn’t helping.
And then I saw two people walk over to the pole. One was a tall blonde, I couldn’t see him too well, him being so far away, he was slouching a bit and his right leg didn’t look right. The other person was a woman who was actually taller than the her partner. She had brown hair and walked in better posture than the guy. They stopped in front of the woman tied to the pole.
“I’m guessing she’s hungry.”
“Eh, ta bad. She wasn’t ta much hel’. Totally ruined da girl’s hand.”
I would have thought the man was the one talking weirdly. The woman bent down to the girls eye level.
“Next time, ya betta be more car’ful.”
Then she spit into the other girl’s face. The man didn’t look like he was smiling...but he didn’t look like he cared that much.
The woman stood up and walked off, the man stayed a bit longer. I couldn’t tell exactly what he was doing except that he was looking at the tied up woman. In the end he left the same way as the one before him.
Through all this I had to wonder, why didn’t that tied up chick just spit back in her face, or kick out with her legs or just say something. Instead she took it like she was a doll.
A couple of hours passed, still no sign of any real conversations about to happen about Kagome. No one came to give the woman food or water so I guessed she must be on punishment
Another couple hours passed and it started to get dark. Still no one came to the woman.
Maybe she’s dead?
No one else was around, the planter had gone away awhile back and the woman peeling the corn had left before it got dark, getting tugged away by a couple kids.
Should I risk it?
“Heeeeeeeeey...Are you dead?”
No answer.
“Lady?”
Silence.
“I have some food back in my pocket.”
Her head jerked up and her hands twitched behind her back.
So she’s interested. Now if I can just pop free of here.
I wiggled till my arms were blue and scratched. Then out popped an arm. Then the other. And I was free! I guess a bit of wiggling can get you out of a tough spot. But it did take me over an hour. By the time I was done, it was pitch dark outside.
I edged towards the woman and slowly brought out the biscuit Kanna had given me. It tasted like molded bread but I suppose this lady would be hungry.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you about the taste though. Mold, eww.”
I held it up to her mouth.
She was pretty, I guess. She was blind folded so I couldn’t see her eyes. I did see why she hadn’t said anything to me or anyone else when she opened her mouth to take the food.
A part of her tongue had been cut off, not the whole thing but enough so it was painful and awkward.
“Jeez, what did you do? You must have done something really bad if they did this to you.”
She just chewed her biscuit.
“Well, I have to go back. But I’ll try and come back, kay?”
I ran off a bit then turned around and came back to her.
“By the way, my name’s Shippo.”
#~#~#
‘Did you get anything, runt?’
‘Nope. But I did-‘
’NO?!’
Inuyasha started pacing and growling. His tail was twitching and he obviously wasn’t listening to a word Shippo was saying.
I just went on eating some berries I had found. There was some other late berries and a couple of apples, but nothing very filling. Inuyasha had went to hunt earlier but came up with nothing.
‘Inuyasha! Can you not hear me?’
Shippo had jumped onto Inuyasha’s head and was screaming at him. I started to get up, watching the two carefully.
Tension had been up since we got to the edge of the camp. Inuyasha had been bothered about something, probably Kagome but I wasn’t sure. Shippo hadn’t been acting all that strange other than his nightmares when he slept. I figured those were normal, I have plenty of nightmares of the past.
Shippo was biting Inuyasha’s head while the dog-wolf growled and snapped.
What if someone from the camp hears them?
I stayed quiet to see if they would stop but they kept at it. It was a mess and they were going to hurt one another soon.
“Shouldn’t you stop? They might hear you.”
For awhile everything kept going same as before. Then, Inuyasha transformed and ripped Shippo off himself.
“Stay here.”
And off he went.
‘Stupid, bossy dog. Doesn’t even try to listen to me...not fair.’
“Are you alright?”
The little fox transforms as well and wipes his face with his tiny hands. He looks up at me strangely, kind of frowning.
“If I tell you, you have to promise to help me.”
I nodded.
“Okay. Well, I found this prisoner...”
#~#~#
What is wrong with this place?
I was sitting in a tree, overlooking the village, my eyes were barely open but even then I could still see it. It was huge, there was an open field in the middle of it, a couple of dirt patches that I guess were for planting, a bunch of small cramped huts, narrow dirt roads and a couple of long houses.
And somewhere in that mess was Kagome. And I couldn’t do anything.
I had to wait for the chance to get in there and get her back. I was sure she couldn’t be happy here. This place was so wrong, nothing good could be residing here.
A harsh wind was starting up, bringing the chill of the near mountains with it. Clouds had swarmed the sky recently and it looked as if they might start letting their snow go before they hit the mountains. At least my winter coat had grown in some time ago.
I was slowly drifting off to sleep, warm and undisturbed.
“Yup, somethin’ to do with the girl bein’ brought in. Didn’t do too good a job on it so the chief got angry at ‘er.”
“Still don’t think it’s right ta tie ‘er to a pole an’ leave her thar. Ain’t happy wit’ it at all.”
“He could’ve just thrown her out inta the woods.”
I cracked an eye open to see two men talking below. One was leaning on a less than sturdy fence post and the other had hands tucked away in his coat. What they were talking about I wouldn’t know...it sounded like it might be important.
Let’s see, they said something about a girl being ‘brought’ in and someone being tied to a pole.
It clicked.
Kagome was being held somewhere. Tied to a pole? It was somewhere to start at least.
#~#~#
Phew. ^-^
I already know what I’m going to do with the sequel. Actually I’m kinda planning two more stories that are relevant to this one after I finish this one since there are so many loose ends that would take forever to tie up and would not fit in with Kagome looking for her father.
I know it took me forever to write this and it’s shorter than my last one but it took some thinking and inspiration.
I can’t remember what inspired me. I was just on the comp one time and I was like...I’m bored and I feel like writing. But none of my other stories were appealing to me at the moment since I was stuck on some weird parts in them. So I finally decided to give this one another go.
I tried to give Kanna a bit more time in her perspective but I guess I really didn’t. At least I gave Shippo more time than usual and was able to avoid Kagome’s for awhile. I always feel like I do too much in Kagome’s point of view. And then when I change perspective, Kagome is always falling asleep or something, which I also need to change soon.
You may be happy to know the second in this “trilogy” will be all about our dear Sango and possibly Miroku. This will be a challenge for me since I never write these two as main characters. I guess some research is due.
I think that’s all for now.
See ya later.