InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Unexpected Ally ❯ Attacked ( Chapter 5 )

Unexpected Ally

 

disclaimer: YYH belongs to Yoshihiro Tagashi; IY belongs to Rumiko Takahashi; Unfortunately, I am neither one of them!

 

Chapter 5: Attacked

 

“Kaze no--“

 

“Inuyasha, no! There's too many buildings around that will be destroyed if you use the Kaze no Kizu!!” Kagome couldn't believe this was happening. She and Inuyasha had only been out getting some takeout for dinner, while Juri kept the boys at the cabin, when they'd been attacked out of nowhere while on a relatively deserted street. Inuyasha had at least had the common sense to grab her up and lead the attacker into a nearby alley before anyone really noticed the 7 foot, deformed-looking, trenchcoat-and-hat-wearing salamander youkai.

 

Inuyasha paused, Tetsusaiga poised in midair, to take in the logic of what Kagome had said. She was right, there were way too many buildings around them, and they were most likely all filled with people. He brought the sword down impotently and resheathed it just as the slimy youkai he'd been aiming for advanced on him. A thick, wet slap was heard as Inuyasha was struck with its mucus-oozing tail. He flew back hard, about 50 feet, into the dead-end of the alley, leaving an impression in the bricks.

 

“Inuyasha!” Kagome screamed as he slid to the ground. The trail of mucus left behind on his chest had dissolved his shirt and was now a toxic green color, bubbling on his skin. The smell of his burning flesh was putrid, and Kagome tried her best not to gag as she ran to check on him. “Inuyasha—“

 

“K-Kagome,” Inuyasha struggled through the pain to get back up. The poison was almost as strong as Sesshoumaru's, and the slime was still oozing down his exposed skin, burning all it touched. He couldn't let it keep him down, however; he wouldn't. The salamander had already launched another attack and was leaping towards Kagome's turned back. Inuyasha pushed her down and out of the way as he stood up just in time to take the full-force of the assault.

 

The youkai picked him up by his throat, burning the skin there with more of his mucus secretions, and tossed him back towards the entrance to the alley. Turning to Kagome, who had scuttled some distance away, he rasped out, “Where is it? I know you have it! Give me the Shikon no Tama!”

 

He crept closer to her, relishing the look of fear on her face as he threatened to use the slime on her as well if she didn't answer. Kagome still refused to answer, however, and the salamander lost his patience. He jumped towards her, prepared to strike her face with the oozing hand, but found himself instantly repelled back into the opposite wall by a shining pink light. In the same instant, Inuyasha leapt towards him, claws bared, shouting, “Sankontessou!” The youkai was shredded to bits, the last of his excess mucus sizzling as it plopped to the ground. Satisfied that the threat was gone, Inuyasha let himself collapse.

 

Inuyasha looked up at Kagome from his spot on the ground. She was still against the opposite wall, head turned to the side, eyes squeezed shut, and arms in front of herself protectively. Inuyasha gaped at her.

 

`She doesn't even realize what she did!' He realized. Finding his voice, he called to her, “Kagome… Kagome it's over now, you're okay.”

 

Kagome finally relaxed from her defensive stance and focused her attention on the injured Inuyasha. “Oh, Inuyasha! You're hurt so bad!” She looked at him worriedly.

 

“I'll be fine, Kagome,” he insisted, though he accepted her support as she helped him up and let him lean against her.

 

“Oh, Inuyasha, I know you will, but it looks so awful. You must be in terrible pain. We have to get you back to the cabin and patch you up.”

 

Suddenly, Inuyasha sniffed the air. Kagome stiffened under him, realizing whatever he was catching the scent of couldn't be good. Her awareness came to her immediately as she felt a strong wave of youki. It felt like more than one, and they were powerful.

 

Inuyasha looked into Kagome's worried face. He knew he was in no shape to fight anymore right now, but he was determined to protect Kagome. He used the remains of his shirt to wipe off the rest of the slime still clinging to his body, making sure there was none left to burn the girl. Mustering up his last bit of strength, Inuyasha quickly grabbed Kagome and leapt back and forth up the walls of the two buildings forming the walls of the alley. Once on the roof of one, he leapt from rooftop to rooftop until they came to the end of the buildings on the boardwalk. He then jumped down and ran back towards the wooded area of the beach. Once he felt they were a safe distance into the woods, he stopped, putting Kagome down to slump against the trunk of a tree exhaustedly.

 

“Kagome, do you think you could change that spell you use on me and cover up the smell of this?” He asked, gesturing to his burned flesh.

 

“I—I don't know. I can try,” she answered, kneeling down in front of him.

 

“Well, do it; before they're able to follow us this far by this god-awful smell alone.”

 

Kagome hurried to think of a way to modify the wording, her stomach churning with a mixture of nervousness and fear. She felt as if her whole body were shaking with a sickening anticipation of their impending danger.

 

Finally deciding on the new words to her spell, she performed it quickly, determined to put as much energy into it as possible in order to protect Inuyasha.

 

Inuyasha watched as soft, glowing lights seemed to be pulled out of the surrounding forest, collecting around Kagome's body and turning a bright pink as it did so. Her eyes were closed while she concentrated on her energy, and he couldn't stop his gasp when she finally directed her gaze on him. Even her eyes were glowing with the pink energy, though behind it her sapphire irises were also sparkling brightly, causing her eyes to appear an amazing shade of purple Inuyasha didn't think he'd ever seen before. Her eyes burned with the intensity of her purpose and her aura flared out at him as she grabbed onto his bare shoulders and chanted the words that would protect him.

 

As the chant was finished, the glow surrounding Kagome began to die away. Feeling a strange tingling sensation engulf his body, Inuyasha looked down at himself to see the light of the energy had not faded, but had been passed to him. It ran over his body searchingly and began to seep into his wounds. Quickly, all the burns were filled with the bright pink ki and were healing before the hanyou's eyes. It seemed as if it had taken an eternity, moving in slow motion, but as if time itself had also slowed down to allow for it.

 

Kagome stared blankly at him, as if she wasn't truly there behind her eyes. Inuyasha felt guilt creep into his mind, worried he had been selfish to ask such a large favor of her. Had it hurt her to put that much energy into healing him? He hadn't even asked for that, but she'd done it nonetheless. The only reminder of his former wounds was the lighter-colored layer of scar tissue that had formed over the burns. Even that would be nothing more than a memory by tomorrow. Kagome, however, had yet to snap out of her stupor. Inuyasha scooped her back into his arms, his strength having mostly returned during his healing, and quickly sped off through the woods towards their cabin.

 

As they closed in on the camping area, Kagome finally seemed to come out of her daze, blinking and shaking her head as if trying to clear away her mental haze. Realizing she was in Inuyasha's arms again, and that they were once again on the move, she looked up at him confused.

 

“What happened, Inuyasha? The last thing I remember was getting ready to say the spell to hide the burning smell. Did it work? Are we running from the youkai I felt back in that alley? What's going on?!”

 

Inuyasha kept on running as he thought how to answer her. He didn't quite know what had happened himself. “Kagome,” he began, “why did you put so much energy into healing me? I would've healed on my own with a little time, and all I asked you to do was hide my scent so I could keep you safe by keeping those youkai off our trail. You must've exhausted yourself with that spell.”

 

“Heal… you… Inuyasha, what are you talking about?” she breathed out tiredly. Her eyes trailed his neck and chest, searching for the wounds she knew should've been there, yet finding nothing but pale scar tissue. She traced the pattern on his chest delicately, unsure about touching it, and found that it really was healed. `But how…?' Surely she hadn't done it. She didn't have that kind of power… did she?

 

Inuyasha saw the look of disbelief on her face and knew what she must be thinking, but he had no explanations to offer her. He stayed quiet until they finally came up to the cabin and he stopped outside their bedroom window. He set her down gently against the side of the house, making sure she was able to hold herself steady. She looked exhausted.

 

Inuyasha took a breath and sighed, “I don't know exactly what happened, Kagome. All I can tell you is that I saw an amazing amount of energy gather around you, and then it healed me. You seemed like you weren't really here anymore and you worried me. I thought maybe you'd given me too much of your own energy.”

 

Kagome stared at him, her mouth slightly agape in shock. Inuyasha was admitting he was worried about her? She must have really scared him. How could she have done what he said, though? How had she been able to heal him like that? Her mind just couldn't accept it.

 

“I know it's hard to believe, Kagome, but it really did happen. You touched my healed wounds yourself. You can't really deny that, can you?” His intuition into her mind surprised Kagome yet again. “Look, I'm sure we can figure this out later, but right now I think we'd better get you inside to rest.” With that, he picked her up yet again and carried her inside to lay her in her bed.

 

It wasn't until he was greeted by five hungry faces in the living room that he remembered the reason they had gone into town to begin with. Luckily, he had heard Kagome say something at a few of the restaurants they had passed by that would be of great use to him now.

 

“Uh,” he began, trying to avoid Juri's angry glare as he gave his excuse, “the lines were really long. How about ramen?” He grinned at his suggestion, flashing his fangs a little. He hoped Juri wouldn't mind making it, since he had yet to master the use of either the stove or the microwave.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

“That idiot,” the evil master growled out, watching as the salamander youkai was partially purified and then shredded to bits, “he put my plan in jeopardy with his petty greed. Still, now we've seen a glimpse of the girl's powers. She doesn't seem to realize she has them, though…” The voice became contemplative as its owner said its thoughts aloud. Turning to the boy that was ever ready to obey, the voice commanded, “Let's clean this up.”

 

Bowing deeply, the boy's only reply was, “Yes, Master.”

 

Skillfully opening a small hole in the barrier, no bigger than a child's fist, the boy held it open for his master as the villain came up to the opening. Quickly, air rushed towards the master, pulling in the leftover energies and scents from the fight in the alley, including the scent-trail Inuyasha left behind, filling and feeding the emptiness that was the very essence of its being.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

“That's odd,” Kurama remarked, stopping in his stride to sniff the air again.

 

“What's odd?” Yuusuke questioned, stopping beside the redheaded fox-boy along with Kuwabara and Hiei. He looked around, searching the area for anything suspicious.

 

(It just… disappeared?) Youko merged into Kurama a bit more, attempting to have better use of the body he inhabited in order to confirm this for himself. Kurama allowed Youko's curiosity to be satisfied as the silver kitsune sniffed the air with the redhead's nose, and used Kurama's forehead to frown. It was true; the scent had completely disappeared without a trace. Even the feeling of youki had seemingly been erased. (That's not possible. It was there just a moment ago, it must still be here. We must find it, Kurama. Someone evidently thinks they can outfox us. Us! We cannot allow whoever is behind this to mock us this way!)

 

Kurama rolled his eyes from his current position within the confines of their combined soul. `I highly doubt whoever is behind this is doing it strictly for our vexation, Youko.' That said, he reclaimed control of his physical body in order to address his friends.

 

“The scent has disappeared, Yuusuke, along with the youki I was feeling as well.”

 

“What, just like that? Did it go back through the barrier?”

 

Hiei scoffed at the black-haired human. “Baka, going back through the barrier wouldn't erase it completely. It must mean someone's cleaning up after themselves again.”

 

Kurama nodded, “Yes, Hiei, I agree.”

 

“Great, so what now?” The boy detective asked, “Do we go back to Koenma and tell him we lost it because it was working for some kind of demon vacuum cleaner?”

 

“No,” Kuwabara drew the attention of the three boys. “I don't think we lost it this time. Right before the energy disappeared, it felt like the power of the one we were after dropped and changed suddenly. It felt like it died.”

 

His friends stared at him in shock. It was too easy to forget sometimes that Kuwabara really was more than just a big mouth.

 

(You know… he's right; not only that, though… there was a flash of something else in that same moment… something pure.)

 

`I know. Why didn't we realize it before?'

 

(We did, we were just concentrating on the immediate disappearance of it more than anything else. Obviously, if the youkai is dead, he wasn't the one to clean up after himself. Therefore, someone must be toying with us; letting us catch a glimpse of something that is surely much greater than it appears. That human girl was right; this is definitely not just a fluke. That other power we felt must've been that reiki that keeps showing up on Koenma's monitors, too.)

 

“Okay, Kuwabara, so it died. That still doesn't help us find it.” Yuusuke complained.

 

“Oh, I know where it is, Urameshi,” Kuwabara answered confidently. Then, in a show of his usual fighting ego, the orange-haired boy puffed out his chest, grinned and proclaimed, “Just follow me, guys, I'll show you the way!”

 

Kuwabara ran ahead of them, Hiei soon catching up as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop, following the boy. Kurama and Yuusuke weren't far behind. They passed the most popular areas of the boardwalk shops, and were soon in an area that was most likely ignored by most of the vacationers to the resort town. The back-alley feel of the few buildings surrounding them now could only be appreciated by those that had grown up frequenting the shops and restaurants. Finally, they came to a stop at the entrance of an alley; at the end of which lay the charred, shredded remains of a salamander youkai. The only proof of what it had once been was the mostly-intact head and the puddles of leftover mucus secretions.

 

“Che,” Hiei made a sound of disgust, “pathetic.”

 

Yuusuke examined the remains, careful not to touch the slimy pieces. “So much for bringing it back alive. Someone really did a number on this guy. He must've really pissed `em off,” Yuusuke said with a small laugh.

 

“Indeed, but who?” Kurama wondered aloud. He then noticed an odd look on Kuwabara's face, as if he were concentrating hard on something.

 

(Even he felt that this time.) Youko remarked knowingly.

 

“Uh… guys? Did you feel that just now? It felt like there was a huge blast of reiki close by.”

 

Before he could say any more, Botan reappeared before them. “Yuusuke; guys; the Reiki Monitor just picked up another peak of energy in Ningenkai, and this one was even higher than all the others. It seems to be somewhere near the beach resort. Koenma wants you to hurry up with that youkai you're after so you can start your new case.”

 

“What new case would that be, Botan?” Yuusuke questioned.

 

“You're to stay at the beach resort until you discover the source of the reiki. Once you find the source, Koenma wants told right away so he can give you further instructions. He wouldn't tell me anything more, but I have a feeling there may be more to this assignment than meets the eye. I'll be checking in with you guys often, as usual, so expect to see a lot of me!” She smiled cheerfully at her last statement. Looking at her surroundings, finally, she realized what they had been inspecting in the dark alley. “Is that what you were after?” She asked, pointing at the bits of youkai.

 

“It would seem so.” Kurama answered.

 

“I thought Koenma told you to bring it back alive,” she replied.

 

“It was already dead when we got here!” Yuusuke insisted.

 

Botan raised her brow skeptically, looking back to Kurama.

 

“It's true, Botan. We had just discovered the remains when you found us.”

 

“Wow! Who besides you guys could have done this?”

 

“That is the question, isn't it, onna?” Hiei replied, mockingly.

 

End Chapter 5

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

Words First Appearing in Chapter Five:

Kaze no Kizu: Wound of the Wind (dub: Wind Scar)

Sankontessou: Soul Scattering Iron Claw (dub: Iron Reaver Soul Stealer)

onna: woman

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

A/N:Wow, I actually got a lot of reviews on my last chapter, and, since I'm lazy, I'm putting all the replies for both ficsites into the same document.

 

MM.org review replies:

 

Okaasan-7: I was just going through old e-mails and realized I forgot to reply to your review a couple chapters back… so I will now! I'm glad you like the story so far, and that you think I eased the Detectives into the story well. As for the numerous Inu-sittings… yeah, there were a lot… lol… but thanks for not flaming me about it since there are IY eps where he seems to get sat for no reason. Plus, I was kinda getting a few in there cuz I knew he wouldn't get sat for awhile after that. As for the congrats on not having Kagome give IY a mall-makeover, thankies!! ^____^ That is a bit cliché, ne? Wanted to steer clear of that!

 

Hoseki: LAMO! on the fangirl-attempt… I see you've toned it down from what you left for Johnny-boy… thankies for that ^_____^ !! Heheh… anyway, I certainly try my best as a fic-ka… and if I wasn't so DISTRACTED by you and John I MIGHT get more work done… *ducks whip* *continues typing furiously* And, yes, I have noticed your cute little habit of always leaving threatening reviews… and I'd expect no less here! I'd be worried if you didn't, lol… *glomps* *nibbles back* ^____~

 

HIEI LOVERS: Glad to know you'll keep reading, no matter what the pairing (which, BTW, I've finally made a decision on… but everyone will still have to wait to find out). Even happier to know that I have at least one regular reader/reviewer on here! Reviews are like chocolate to a fic-ka!!!! Mmmmm…chocolate…. ^_______~

 

Johnny Walker: Yayzies! Creative and interesting plot? Awesomeness! So happy to know you think it's easy to follow, Maru-kun… since I usually confuse the hell outta you… lol… And, hey, like you said before, Johnny-boy, that last chapter actually had English in it! ^____^ I COULD still fix that though… lol…. And you know Hoseki would still make you read it on ICAF once we get to it in Storytime… heheheh… ah, but don't worry, I'm not THAT evil… *smirks*

 

Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami: Happy you like it. ^_______^ The spacers... yeah, I like them a lot in fics… plus they're also there for my own benefit when typing, to keep scenes straight. I'm so glad MM actually lets me put them up, because FF doesn't let any symbols like that stay, so I have to put `&' signs and page separators in, which kinda sucks… ah, but oh well…

 

FF.net review replies:

 

montrith: Glad you think it's a good crossover… I know good ones are usually hard to find. As for the amount of reviews… I don't know, but I wish more people WOULD leave `em… *points to chocolate comment in reply to HIEI LOVERS* *craves more fic-ka chocolate!* So from that, I'm sure you realize how ecstatic I am to know you're “eagerly waiting updates.” ^__________^

 

Kagome-reincarnation: You love it? Awesomeness!! I'll do my best to not disappoint! ^________^

 

To All My Reviewers: *snuggles you*