InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Lifetime Loving You Part 2; The Path to Osaka ❯ Dinner’s Been Canceled ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer; Inu ain't my doggy…he just kinda followed me home one night.

A Lifetime Loving You Part 2; The Path to Osaka

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Chapter 3; Dinner's Been Canceled

(Kitsumi)

My punishment began as soon as the sun rose the next morning. The laundry was finished and hung out to dry and as soon as that was over it was time to head into the village to gather our share of rice. The rice wasn't the part that made the punishment punishing.

Give or take it was really hard to look where I was going without seeing a pair of eyes glaring down at me and my mother. I could feel my cheeks burning the entire time as I squeezed my rice dog doll and clutched my mother's hand as we walked through the forest of angry eyes.

We finally came to the hut were the rice was kept and my mother was about to open the reed door flap when someone called out to us. "Lady Kagome! Lady Kagome, come quickly! Hanoi is ill with a fever."

My mother gasped and took my hand as well walked quickly to the hut. I of course had to run to keep in time with my mother. I hated being so slow; my short legs making it hard for me to keep up with anyone.

My mother looked at the hut and then bent down to my level and placed her hands on my shoulders. "Kitsumi, stay outside the doorway and don't go anywhere until I get back."

With that her eyes left mine and she entered the hut. I leaned up against the side panels of the home and waited with a heavy sigh for my mother to appear again. Curse stupid punishment! I hate being grounded.

It limits everything. Look at the villagers though; they all look at me like I'm some kind of disease. It's like I'm bad luck. I just never feel like I belong here.

Maybe…maybe if I new who my father was I would know more about what kind of person I am. Maybe he was a warrior. Yeah, a samurai of the royal kind that live to protect the emperor in Kyoto, or even a great war hero. That would explain why I'm so brave. I obviously didn't get my warrior instincts from my mother. She never engaged in battle. At least not to my knowledge at that time.

I let my eyes wander as I looked to the sky to watch a small flock of tiny brown birds fly by before looking around the village and off into the distance of the snow covered forest where Inu-yasha resided.

I had looked at it so many times before, but this time…this time was different.

When my eyes looked to the forest, I saw an odd light shine for a moment from a dark shadowy clearing. I narrowed my brow and looked around me to see if anyone else had seen what I had spied. Not a single villager saw the shining light in the distance. Could it be that only I could see it?

Feeling the need to venture into the unknown and find out what was the cause; I abandoned my post and snuck through the groups and couples of villagers and through the rice fields to the forest. I looked into the unknown bare trees and snow as I made my way toward what might have been the source of the light.

The trees towered over me like large frozen giants with hundreds of arms and long dagger like fingers. I hugged my dog doll and made my way forward until I came to a large tree with a scar in its thick bark that seemed like it was never going to heal.

The tree was massive and looked incredibly old compared to the brother and sister tress around it. Yet, something about that tree made me feel strange; and, I stared at it a long period of time.

I only saw the tree, but my body felt like it was somehow in a great deal of pain. I felt like the very air itself was crushing me from every side and my blood threatened to burst from my body. My head got faint and dizzy and then the images came.

The images of the story I asked my mother to tell me again and again every night or so. I saw an arrow. I saw an arrow piercing a man's chest, and within that arrow was a spell of pain, sadness, and suffering. Within the man's heart pain, sadness, and suffering as well harbored in it and mingled with the arrow.

What was this vision? Why was I having visions of my mother's fairy tale bedtime story?

I looked up to the tree on my knees as sweat began to form on my brow and I found it hard to breathe.

"…The time draws near…"

I gasped and looked around me wondering where the voice had come from. I jumped to my feet and spun around feeling the pressure leave me.

I relaxed a bit and looked down at my rice dog doll. "Inuko, I think we should head back. This place feels funny."

"Kind of late to be asking your dolly if it's time to go back, don't you think little girl?" a voice hissed from the bushes.

I turned around with a high pitched gasp as three large men appeared from the shrubs dressed in armor with their monstrous, muscular arms and legs pushing and breaking back the branches of the shrub. The larges of these pulled his sword from his waist and pointed it at me.

"We can bargain her for food from the villagers," he said as his lips curled into a smile.

"Yeah, or we can take her to the boss and see what he would want to do with her instead," another sneered.

I clutched my doll to my chest as I tried to catch my breath and run. They growled as their heavy footsteps pounded behind me. "Come back here, you little wench!"

One jumped to catch my feet and I screamed as I dodged to the right to escape his clutches. I gasped for breath in complete fear. I tried not to look back, but I had to see how close they were each time. I held my dog doll hoping something would save me as the men laughed and growled.

"Help! Please, someone! Help!" I screamed as I fell to the ground after failing to notice root hidden under the snow. I fell on my knees hard and tumbled a few feet away before rolling to a stop at the foot of a tree. I shook my head and pushed myself against the tree as the three breathless men laughed and reach out to me with their large, gnarly hands.

I stared at them in fear as the hands got bigger the close they came.

Then, I felt vision go blurry for a moment and I got dizzy. I shook my head as I tried to focus on the men again, and realized their hands had drawn back some.

"Did you see that? Her eyes changed color for a moment. They flashed with the color of blood."

Lost in the confusion, the men spooked even more when they heard a low growl coming from the trees above. They drew back in fear and I held Inuko to my chest.

The growl came again and the men clung to each other with their backs rubbing against the other two's. I looked into the thicket of icy branches and snow and waited for the inhuman growl to come to my ears once again. This time…I wasn't afraid of it. It almost seemed…familiar.

"Inu…yasha?"

The branches exploded with snow and ice as Inu-yasha appeared from above and landed on his feet with his fangs bared and claws at the ready. He scowled at the three men and his spin arched back like an animal ready to pounce.

"Leave my forest! This girl has no purpose for you." Inu-yasha cracked his knuckles to prove his point and threat. I hugged Inuko as the three men looked at him with fear growing in their eyes with each passing moment.

The three men trembled as Inu-yasha's growl grew more intense the longer it took them to react. Inu-yasha took a deep breath and roared. I covered my ears as the ground shook and the men screamed like women as they ran off through the wood.

Inu-yasha snorted with a visible puff of air from his nose and once again rose to his feet like noting has happened as turned to me with a softer look.

"Squirt, you alright?" he asked quickly as he rushed to my side. I felt his warm hand touch my cheek and looked at him. His face was worried for me, and I once I found the ability to breathe again, I threw my arms around him. I began to sob and cry, and then I felt Inu-yasha's arms wrap around me. He held me close to his chest as I cried and for the first time, he was soothing me. "It's all right, Squirt!" he paused and let out a relieved sigh. "I'm here now. Everything will be alright!"

He was right; I had never felt safer in my life. My next impulse, I never quite knew what had compelled me to do it, but I began to ramble excuses like the child I was.

"I didn't mean to, Inu-yasha! I only wanted to figure out what I saw in the forest. I didn't mean to disobey what my mother said. I know I'm grounded, but--"

"Kitsumi!" I heard my mother's voice come from afar as she ran through the forest. Inu-yasha pulled away from me as he turned to look at my mother, and before either of us knew what had happened, my mother pulled me to her body as I finished my sobs of fear.

"Mom! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"

My mother hushed me and rubbed my back as she rocked me in her arms. The feeling of complete safety was the same feeling in Inu-yasha's not too long ago. Both of the feeling of being held by mother and Inu-yasha held fear, concern, and strangely enough…even love.

I looked at Inu-yasha through my mother's bodily made protective ball and saw his eyes fill with loneliness and a sense of chill. He watched my mother hold me close to her the way he had only moments before.

It made me wonder. Why was Inu-yasha making such a face?

My mother lifted her chin from my head and looked up at Inu-yasha and their eyes met. They looked at each other for a long period of time, each looking at each other the way I had seen so many times before with young couples in the village.

My mother ran her fingers through my wavy locks of black hair when I looked to her to see the same lonely chill in her eyes. Yet, both had a look of complete longing, like they both were trying with all their might not to do something while I was in front of them.

My mother broke her stare and looked down at me and caught me observing. She snapped out of the daze she seemed to be in when I mumbled, "Mom?" to her.

Inu-yasha came out of his daze not long after and rose from the white ground, and both my mother and I watched him. "You two might want to get going. They could come back with more numbers later on."

My mother nodded and lifted me up into her arms as we began to slowly make our way back to the village. "Thank you, Inu-yasha," my mother spoke weakly with some sort of sadness behind it.

Inu-yasha merely smirked, but even I could tell it was forced. "Just making sure she stays out of harms way…like I always have."

My mother let out a small smile and turned away to continue home.

I looked back through my mother's messy hair as Inu-yasha's face seemed to break along with his body as he watched us leave. I didn't want to see Inu-yasha like that. It hurt me to see him like that. This man, whom everyone teased me for hanging around me so much, suddenly looked so utterly alone and cold and I hated it.

What I did next at that moment, would be the first step that would change everything between Inu-yasha and me…and my mother.

I straightened up in my mother's arms as Inu-yasha's back began to come into view as he turned around to look into the depths of the wood. "Will you be coming for dinner?"

Everyone froze, even me as I waited to see Inu-yasha's reaction. He turned around with complete shock and surprise written all over his face. My mother pulled me from her body to face her. "Kitsumi?" she accused.

"What?" I innocently answered. "Inu-yasha should come to dinner. It's just like all the stories you and Lady Sango tell. When a young man saved a damsel's life, he is usually rewarded. Lord Miroku says food in a man's stomach is the greatest of rewards."

My mother glared at me. "It's also very rude when the other people you live with my not approve."

Inu-yasha approached us from behind. "It's all right, Kagome. I know she was only foolin'."

I jumped in my mother's arms. "But I wasn't! Mom, why can't Inu-yasha join us for dinner?"

My mother looked at me and then at Inu-yasha for a moment before looking at me again. I smiled innocently, "Can Inu-yasha join us for dinner…please?" I nagged.

Inu-yasha laughed quietly for a moment as he looked at the ground and rubbed the back of his neck to show his discomfort in the matter. Though what the discomfort was, I never quite knew; being not quite invited to dinner or trying to find the words to being invited to eat dinner with me and my mother.

My mother looked at me and then sighed as I waited for her. My mother opened her brown eyes halfway before opening them fully toward Inu-yasha. "Would you like to join us for dinner, since I think turning you down might make just as equal with my daughter's rudeness?"

`Smooth, Mom! Real smooth!' I thought as I rolled my eyes.

Inu-yasha looked at her completely shocked that my offer had been seconded. "Well, if it, umm, completely alright with you, I mean… if it's not that much trouble?"

`Come on! Say yes, say yes!'

Inu-yasha looked at us both with his eyes fixed on my mother's, which were just as clearly curious as to what he would say as I was.

He let his hand hang off the side of his neck and he cleared his throat after swallowing hard. "What are you making?"

~~~~

That night, a full moon glowed in the sky with a few stars. Inu-yasha sat up in the old tree by our hut with me in his lap as the smell of fish and rice cooking in the hut filled the air outside.

"What's that one? The cluster of stars over there," I said as I pointed to the sky.

Inu-yasha looked into the heavens and smiled. "You know which constellation that one is, Kitsumi."

"Tell me the story, again. I like the way you tell it."

He rolled his eyes but he had a clear smile across his face. "Orion is the great hunter who had two great dogs at his side. Beasts feared his bow and arrow, for if they hit their hearts they would surly die. Until, he met his greatest foe, a scorpion, which struck his heel and killed him with his poison.

"His true love asked for the gods to put him in the heavens with his dogs, Canis Major and Canis Minor, and the scorpion as well, where they continue to fight until battles has been won."

I looked into the sky as the stars shined. "What about Canis Major and Minor? Don't they have a story to tell as well?"

Inu-yasha looked at the two constellations that made up the dogs. "Perhaps there is…there might be tales about them before they met Orion."

I leaned back into Inu-yasha's chest and my eyes blinked a little. He tensed a little as I squirmed to get closer to his chest and keep warm. "You smell like tree sap and mud," I mumbled as my eyes blinked shut and I sighed through my nose.

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(Inu-yasha)

I looked at the tiny child in my lap as she seemed to slip into a deep sleep almost instantly. I relaxed my chest as the tiny life snuggled closer into the fire rat cloth with her legs hugged to her chest and the tiny dog doll in her arms.

I sighed and smirked as I settled into the tree. She tried to adjust and I found her head tucked under my chin a moment later. My nose could smell the scent of earth in her as well, and fire. Yet, of all of these, I could still smell the old smell of new baby in her skin and hair…that and all the sweet scents of Kagome.

My heart began to beat faster at that thought of inhaling Kagome's scent like the very air it self, just as I was doing with Kitsumi at that very moment. All the wonderful smells of Kagome were buried in this tiny child, mixed with her own unique scent that I had grown to love since the first day my nose picked it up from within Kagome's womb.

I ran my claws through Kitsumi's hair gently as she made a tiny grunt in her sleep. "You have so much of your mother in you. For such a small thing…you can be so strong."

I put my nose in her hair and as I held on to her scent, I pressed my lips to her crown. I want you just as much as I long to hold your mother. I'll protect you, Kitsumi. No one is going to take you away from me. I swear no one else will have you.

"Inu-yasha?" I opened my eyes believing my name came from the tiny girl in my arms. A moment later I realized that my name had come from much farther below.

Kagome stood on the ground wiping her hands in a rag. "Inu-yasha, diner is ready."

I looked at her and then at the tiny person in my arms. I maneuvered my arms to pick little Kitsumi up and cradle her in my arms trying not to stir her as I jumped down to the ground and sprang back up using my knees as to not disturb her.

Kagome walked toward us and looked at the tiny child in my arms. "She's asleep!"

I smirked, "I guess all the excitement in the forest was a bit much for her."

Kagome looked at me for a moment before looking back down at her daughter once more. She ran her hands through Kitsumi's hair, and I watched as I dreamed of the soothing power those hands would have if they ran through my hair. "She looks so peaceful."

I looked at the sleeping girl in my arms, and then at the woman adoring her. I took a bold chance in asking my next question. "Why haven't you told her?"

Kagome looked at me lost. "Told her about what?"

I narrowed my brow. "You know who…Her F-A-T-H--"

Kagome put her hand to my mother instantly with a glare and picked up Kitsumi and took her into the hut. I shook my head and followed her just as she came through the skin door leading to Kitsumi's sleeping quarters. Kagome marched up to me and pushed me back outside.

"I told you never to bring that up while she's around you."

I snorted, "She fast sleep, there's no way she was going to hear anything."

Kagome turned her back to me and crossed her arms. "I don't want her to know. Kitsumi hasn't turned into a hanyo or a kill crazed demon yet, and if she remains human to the eye then I won't have to tell her that her father is a dog demon aristocrat who probably has no idea he even has a daughter. Besides, it's not like Sesshoumaru would care. He'd probably kill her once he found out he had a child with `dirty blood'."

I narrowed my brow at her choice of words. "Is that what you believe she is? You want to keep her from knowing she has `dirty blood'? Is that what you're going to tell her too when and if she discovers she's a dog hanyo? She has `dirty blood'?"

Kagome turned around and looked at me with sadness in her eyes. "How dare you think I would call my daughter such a thing? If anyone would say those words to her it would be your brother. I never want her to hear those words. I don't even want her to know that her own father would reject her for such a thing."

I took a few steps closer to her. "Sesshoumaru will die first before I let him even touch Kitsumi for one thing. I won't let him harm her."

Kagome's eyes filled with tears and she nodded and crossed her arms. "You and I can save her from a lot of things, Inu-yasha…but can you save her from her own father's rejection? Can you save your brother from the shame Naraku has brought upon him that he will deny with all his might? Sure Sesshoumaru has a right to know what happened between me and him, and that he was just as violated as me. Still, it can't save him from his own arrogance and stubborn behavior. Unlike me, Inu-yasha, he has a choice whether or not to raise her. All I fear is that Kitsumi will have to bear that rejection for the rest of her life. No mother wants to see their own child fall apart because they discover their father doesn't love them…but is more or less ashamed of them even sharing the same blood."

Kagome pushed by me and headed toward her hut. I called out to her. "Then what will you tell her, when she asks what a half-breed is?"

Kagome stopped in her tracks and turned to look back at me with tears in her eyes and others running down her soft cheeks. "She won't ask me that. She knows what one is all ready."

I stood my ground. "Then what will you tell her when she wants to know if she's one of them?"

Kagome stood still as I prowled up to her and cautiously wiped a tear away with my thumb. "What will you say to her…when she asks…why does she look like me?"

Time passed as Kagome's eyes remained frozen to mine, both of us not knowing the answer to that question. What would Kagome say? What would she do? What…could I do to lift this burden from her shoulders?

I opened my mouth to speak once again, when a breeze touched my nose and I shot my head in the direction of the village with my eyes open wide.

Kagome jumped at the sudden reaction and looked worriedly at the village. "What is it? What do you smell?"

I caught my breath. "Burning oils and looters are in the village. They've set fire to something."

"Are they the same ones from the forest that attacked Kitsumi?"

"Most likely!"

I felt Kagome grip my sleeve. I turned to her and touched her hand. "Get Kitsumi and head for the hill where the graves of the priests and priestesses are. I'll go warn the villagers and ward them off."

With a nods and a push off my toes I leapt down the path to the village as quickly as possible with the air rushing past my face and my heart beating in fear. I reached the temple arch and over looked the village until I heard cries of fear mixed with those of the bandits that began to light fire to the homes closest to my forest.

"Shit!" I cursed and leapt into the air with a loud roar to awake the village. The bandits' cries stopped as they looked to the skies to see my body silhouetted by the full silvery moon behind me.

Heads poked out of their huts as many looked to see what the matter was. I landed in the streets. "Bandits! They're looting the huts and setting fire to them."

I stopped at Miroku and Sango's hut when Miroku came to my side.

"Inu-yasha?"

I looked to the orangey glow that wasn't too far and Miroku looked to me for a plan. "Get the villagers to the graves. I'll ward them off before they can set fire to anymore homes."

Miroku looked to the fires and then put his hand on my shoulder. "Inu-yasha, there is something odd about this. These bandits surely would have run if they heard your warning cry. I don't like the feeling in my bones either."

Sango rushed out of their home with the twins in her arms. "Miroku, what is it?"

He hugged her and kissed her passionately as the twins and I looked on. I felt loneliness send a chill down my spine again as memories of Kagome's kiss and her taste haunted my mind.

Miroku held his wife in his arms for a moment. "Take the children to the sacred graves on the hill. Tell them not to fear anything."

Sango touched his face and embraced him one last time as she took the children and led the other families and villagers to the hill.

I turned my attention to the bandits as Miroku and I made our way to the site where they had hit. Miroku held up his staff and I fisted my hands.

"Remember, Inu-yasha, use restraint. They're only mere mortals, not demons."

I huffed and loosened the grip in my fists just enough to not feel my claws poking into my palms instead of almost piercing them.

However, when I saw the three bandits that had tried to get their hands on Kitsumi, my fists became even tighter. I bared my fangs and narrowed my brow as Miroku held up his staff.

"Leave this village at once! This will be your only warning!"

The bandits laughed as they looked at each other.

"This is the best this village has, a dog demon and monk?"

I perked my ears forward at the sound of the voice and the fowl scent of demon that covered the air suddenly. Miroku glared into the distance.

A dark cloaked man appeared from the cluster of bandits and on instinct I opened my claws and held one hand at the ready to get Tetsusaiga.

"Pathetic!" the voice hissed.

Miroku held his ground. "Be warned demon! We have faced greater foes than the likes of you."

There was the sound of a high pitched hissing, and before any of the spectators knew it, eight long legs sprouted from the back of the demon like black daggers and grew. The bandits didn't know what had hit them, and the demon growled before spewing a web that reeked of poison vapors. I covered my nose and grabbed hold of Miroku to make a get away.

"Spiders…I hate any demon that makes me think of spiders."

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(Kitsumi)

My mother raced me up to the grave sights where we were soon joined by the villagers and Sango with the twins. Kara came up to me and hugged me. "Kitsumi, have you seen? It's a huge spider demon attacking the village. My father and Inu-yasha are trying to attack it."

My Mother turned to Sango once Kara spoke. "A demon? But Inu-yasha only smelled a band of looters?"

Kara took my hand and pulled me to the edge of the cliff to look out at the giant eight legged demon with a far smaller body, bug long spiked legs.

I looked around in fear, "Where's Inu-yasha?" I cried, and felt my mother's arms around me.

"Stay with me, Kitsumi! This is scared ground, we won't be harmed here."

`But…Inu-yasha?'

~~~~

(Inu-yasha)
I dodged the on coming onslaught of dagger legs and poison webbing with Miroku in my arms.

"You can't stay out here! If the web doesn't kill you those legs will," Miroku lectured, but his words came too late as we were hit and hit the ground in two different places. Miroku fell in the safety of a barn while I was left out in the open.

I spit out the taste of dirt and reached for Tetsusaiga as I struggled to get to my feet.

I turned ready to draw when my eyes saw a black dagger heading downward, and the leg of the spider ran through my shoulder and pinned me too the ground.

I cried out at the enormous amount of agony as my shoulder throbbed. I couldn't move my arm and Tetsusaiga was still in its scabbard.

The black beast growled as it loomed over me as snarled.

~~~~

(Kitsumi)

"Inu-yasha's been pinned!" Kohaku cried and Sango pulled him away and covered his eyes along with Kara's.

The sound of Inu-yasha's name made my heart beat race. I gasped and felt my heart bound in my chest. I pulled out of my mother's arms and ran to the cliff and fell on my hands and knees.

I watched in horror as another black dagger like leg pierced Inu-yasha's other shoulder. He cried out and a gasped, feeling my heart beginning to beat even harder.

I clutched my chest as tried to breathe as the events unfolded in front of me. I looked at the demon as my eyes grew larger.

"Now, dog demon, you shall die!" it hissed.

Inu-yasha's face seemed to fade as blood and sweat dripped from his body.

"No!"

I didn't want him to give up.

"No!"

I didn't want to see him die.

"No!"

I didn't want to loose the safety I felt in his arms when he held me. I wanted to fly again. I wanted him to be close by. Inu-yasha wasn't just my friend he was…he was…something more.

I looked out at the demon as I drew it's head back to spew web at Inu-yasha.

My mother's voice called out to me, but Lady Sango held her back.

My breathing became labored and my heart began to pound. My vision was blurry with a red color as I looked at the scene before me.

"INU-YASHA!!!"

Last I remember from that point, what hearing a loud thumping sound in my head three times and my blood rushing through my veins.

Then, everything was blank

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Cliff's suck but I had to do it. I'm on the tenth page and 6-8 is usually my limit for a chapter.

Hope you're all drooling for more.

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