InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Simple Legacy (I) ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and its characters are created by Rumiko Takahashi, not me, but the new plots are mine. This fanfiction had been written for entertainment purposes only and without intention of infringing upon any copyright.

 

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A Simple Legacy by elle6778 - Chapter 2

 

 

The rag-tag group comprising one white-haired hanyou, one red-haired kitsune, one cute neko-youkai and three humans made their way down the path bordered by a rich green forest on one side and a cliff on the other. Although those human ones could not see it, Inuyasha had informed them that he could sense that they were nearing their destination.

Deep in thought, Kagome trudged along with Shippou perched on her shoulder. Inhaling deeply, she took in the fresh scent of the forest and the clean, crisp air following the earlier downpour.

She would be eighteen in about two months time. After almost three years in Sengoku Jidai, she still could not help but be amazed at the natural environment around her. She smiled slightly at the thought. Was it already three years since she had first step foot in the past? Three years since she had released Inuyasha from the Goshinboku tree and shattered the Shikon jewels into shards?

The thought of the remaining shards of the jewel dampened her spirits a little. She sighed, wondering what else fate would throw at them to make the hunt for the Shikon shards more difficult. This time, it was the problem with Inuyasha's Tetsusaiga, apparently.

She went back to their conversation with Myoga.

The old flea youkai had told them that Inuyasha's problem with his youkai blood was likely caused by the Tetsusaiga's power. That had been all he was willing to tell them. Hence, they were now making their way to Totousai in the hope that the elderly blacksmith could shed some light on Myoga's cryptic information. Totousai, who was a friend of Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's father, Inu-no-Taishou, had been the one who forged Inuyasha's Tetsusaiga and Sesshoumaru's Tenseiga. And unsurprisingly knew more compared to others about the properties of the objects bestowed by Inu-no-Taishou to his sons.

Before she knew it, they had arrived at Totousai's door.

The door opened to reveal a wrinkly half-balding blacksmith with protruding eyeballs. Shifting his gigantic forging hammer from one shoulder to the other, he gestured for them to enter. “Come. I've been expecting you.”

Kagome exchanged a surprised look with Sango. Shrugging, they filed into the dimly lit space.

“Totousai. What do you know about Tetsusaiga's problem in binding my youkai blood?” Inuyasha asked brashly even before they sat down.

Kagome gritted her teeth. Would it kill him to be more civil sometimes?

Fortunately, Totousai seemed to be unfazed. “Yes. Sit down and I'll tell you.”

Inuyasha scowled, but did as instructed, much to Kagome's relief.

“You've used the katana well, and it has done well to bind your youkai blood,” Totousai begun thoughtfully.

Inuyasha bristled. “So what's the problem? Why am I transforming more and more often of late?”

Totousai shook his head slowly, his expression filled with concern. “I don't know for sure. But I think it's to do with the fact that I reforged it using your fang. You hanyou fang.”

Inuyasha's eyes bulged. “WHAT? What has that got to do with anything?”

“Shut-up, Inuyasha!” Kagome snapped, irritated at his constant interruptions. How was Totousai supposed to explain anything with Inuyasha interrupting every two seconds?

Inuyasha glared at her, but settled down in a huff. His face was set in a sullen expression. Kagome rolled her eyes.

Totousai looked at them with mild amusement, but continued, “I suspect that your fang is too closely linked to you and not powerful enough to bind your youkai blood. The one from your full-youkai father obviously had done a better job of it.”

The old swordsmith paused in thought.

Kagome decided to prompt him. “So what can we do?”

Totousai looked up. “I can reforge the katana with a full-blooded youkai fang. As it is your family's legacy, the only one I can use is Sesshoumaru's fang.”

“WHAT?” Inuyasha jumped to his feet. “No, you're wrong. This can't be it,” he ranted. The hanyou began to pace jerkily around the small hut.

Sango ventured hesitantly, “Are you sure, Totousai? There is no other way?”

Totousai nodded sagely. “It's the only way.”

Miroku shook his head slowly, looking as if doomsday had arrived. “Sesshoumaru will kill us. This will be the end.”

Kagome frowned. Totousai could fix the katana but would need a part of Sesshoumaru's fang because it was more suited for the job than Inuyasha's? It made sense in an odd way, but Kagome knew that Inuyasha loathed asking his brother for anything. A glance at said hanyou told her just as much. Revulsion was plastered over Inuyasha's face, no doubt at the thought of acquiring his stoic half brother's help.

She stood up and walked to him. Placing a hand on his arm to still his agitated movements, she said, “Why don't you just ask, Inuyasha? Who knows? He might agree to help.”

Inuyasha paused and gave her an incredulous look. “You're kidding, right? That bastard Sesshoumaru would rather see me die.”

Kagome let out an exclamation of frustration. “What do you suggest we do then?”

Inuyasha growled. “Kill him.” He was serious, she could tell from his expression.

Kagome shook her head vigorously. “No, Inuyasha. He's your half-brother, for Kami's sake!”

“Feh! I don't care. I'm not asking Sesshoumaru for help. I'll kill him and rip out his fangs. That's what I'll do.”

Horrified, Kagome exclaimed, “Inuyasha!”

Shippou shook his head. “Forget it, Kagome. Inuyasha is just being his usual stupid self.”

Inuyasha instantly rushed to the small kitsune, grabbing the kit by his neck. “What did you say?” the hanyou snarled threateningly.

“Kagome!” Shippou wailed, his arms cartwheeling in his desperation to escape the irate hanyou.

Concerned about Shippou's fate, Kagome rushed towards them. “Let him go, Inuyasha!”

Inuyasha ignored her. Instead, he snarled into Shippou's face. “Apologize, you runt!”

Shippou opened his mouth wide. “KAGOME!!”

Inuyasha shook the kitsune roughly.

Kagome's eyes narrowed.

“OSUWARI!”

A loud thud followed, and Inuyasha sprawled flat on the floor. A string of curses escaped his lips, but the words were thankfully muffled. Kagome glared at him.

Sango stood up and held her hands out in a placating gesture. “Look. Why don't we just get some rest? We can discuss this tomorrow after a good night's sleep.”

Nodding in agreement, Kagome went to pick up her sleeping bag and laid it down on the floor. Settling down, she wrapped her arms around Shippou and tried to sleep.

Unfortunately, sleep refused to claim her. The events of the past few weeks came back to her, causing her to toss restlessly within her sleeping bag. Finally, with a resigned sigh, she carefully detached her arm from Shippou and walked out of the hut.

The gentle breeze was soothing, marginally clearing her jumbled mind. Finding a comfortable spot against a tree, she leaned back and glanced up at the twinkling stars above.

Now that she had thought about it a little bit more, it was not surprising that Totousai required Sesshoumaru's fang. As far as she knew, Sesshoumaru was one of the few individuals who could subdue Inuyasha. But asking that youkai for help left a bad taste in her mouth. She could only imagine what his reaction would be when they approached him to ask for his fang. And they just had to. They had no choice. Inuyasha's sanity, and life, depended on it.

But Sesshoumaru would not give in so easily. He had no reason to trust them or wanted to help them. What could they offer him that would encourage his help?

Tetsusaiga would be one thing he wanted, she thought with a grimace. That was the last thing she could hand over to him, considering the circumstances. It belonged to Inuyasha, not to mention that without it, Inuyasha would be hopelessly out of control.

She frowned. Come to think of it, she did not remember Sesshoumaru asking for the katana in their recent encounters. Had he lost interest in it then? It was odd.

Think. Think. What else could Sesshoumaru want?

Her eyes widened as something else occurred to her. His arm. Surely he would want his arm back, right? Considering how arrogant that youkai was, the loss of his arm must be something which grated at him.

She was a miko, right? There must be something she could do to help. But how? She was so under-trained and she had no idea where to start.

Kaede. She would ask Kaede.

Her spirit lighter, she bounced up happily and rushed in to tell everyone of her plan. Yes, this was important enough to wake everyone up, right?

***

It had taken a few days for Kaede to impart the relevant knowledge to Kagome. It was an advanced form of healing, the basics which Kagome had gone through first. Kaede had told her that since re-forming a limb was going to be much more difficult, it would take her a few tries to get the entire limb to grow back to what it was before. Kaede also had warned her against overstraining herself, as the procedure required a vast amount of power from her.

And now, armed with her new skill and accompanied by Sango, Miroku, Kirara and Shippou, Kagome found herself trudging down yet another dirt path in search of Sesshoumaru. Although she knew that it was going to be difficult to persuade the youkai, Kagome was determined that she should remain optimistic about it.

She grinned when she recalled Inuyasha's face when he had heard her plan. Unsurprisingly, Inuyasha had been adamant that he should just kill Sesshoumaru and be done with it. The hanyou, as usual, had been in no state to listen to reason.

As a result of that incident, the rest of them had plotted behind Inuyasha's back.

Just before they departed this morning, they had managed to subdue him. Right now, Inuyasha should be safe in Kaede's hut, fast asleep under a spell woven by the elderly miko. Hopefully the spell would last long enough to give them a good head start on the stubborn hanyou.

They knew that there would be a downside to Inuyasha's absence. Without him, they had to rely on Shippou and Kirara to hunt down the elusive youkai lord. Kagome knew that this would take longer, but she did not care as long as they found Sesshoumaru.

She just needed to remain optimistic.

***

Sesshoumaru's eyes snapped open.

And then they sharpened the second he detected the now familiar scent.

Again.

It was the scent belonging to Inuyasha's traveling companions, minus the hanyou. This was the fourth time in just as many days that they had come so close to him. It was too frequent to be mere coincidence. He was beginning to suspect that they were trying to track him down.

A quick glance around him told him that Jaken, Rin and Ah-Un were still sleeping, peacefully unaware of the approach of Inuyasha's companions. He should have taken all of them to the air. However, he had recently refrained from doing so unless absolutely necessary. The trees and shrubs in the forest gave him and his traveling companions much better cover from Naraku's spies.

Sesshoumaru growled softly. Naraku was yet another hanyou who was rapidly becoming a thorn in his side. It irked him that he was being hunted down like an animal by Naraku who craved his superior youkai powers. Not to mention that Sesshoumaru did not care for any of Naraku's petty games.

He tilted his head up and sniffed.

There were five of them; three humans and two youkais. The wench, who was rumored to be a miko, was also there. He would find out what they were doing there.

Sesshoumaru stood up and followed his nose.

He walked until he came upon a shallow stream. That was where he found the human, the wench who followed Inuyasha. The one who had the audacity to keep shooting her arrows at him. Fruitlessly, of course.

The breeze brought her scent closer to him. It was a fresh scent which reminded him of peaches. To his surprise, for the first time, he realized that it was not entirely unpleasant. Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at his wayward thoughts. No, human always smelled disgusting, unwashed and pungent.

Sesshoumaru looked around, seeing no one but her. Her scent was the strongest here, which implied that her companions must be some distance away. So she was alone. He watched her gather her belongings from the bank. She was about to leave.

It was time to make his presence known. Sesshoumaru stepped out from the hidden spot behind the tree, right in the direct line of her view across the stream.

The human girl immediately froze as her eyes landed on him.

“What is your purpose here?” he went straight to the point, his expression stony.

She held herself as if she was not afraid of him, but even with the distance, he could see the hint of wariness in her eyes. Good. She should be afraid of him.

“Speak, wench,” he ordered, mildly impatient at her delay.

She hesitated for a moment, and then pointed to his empty left sleeve. “I can fix that.”

His eyes widened a fraction at her unexpected words. Was she telling him that she could make his arm grow again? Impossible! He clenched his right fist.

“You lie, wench,” he finally stated coldly.

Taking a step forward, she shook her head vigorously, her long black hair flying around her face. “No, I'm not. I can restore your arm.” Then she took a deep breath, looking as if she needed to strengthen herself for her next words.

Sesshoumaru waited.

“But I need something in return.”

His eyes narrowed at her audacity. If she could really do what she had claimed, he could just take her and force her to heal his arm, willing or not.

She seemed to have read his mind. “Before you even think of forcing me, let me tell you that this is something that can only work if I'm willing.”

Biting back a growl, he ordered, “You will restore this arm.” It was an order.

A light flashed in her eyes and her chin tilted up stubbornly. “Only if you agree to trade. Something you want for something I want.”

In a blink of an eye, he flew across the stream and pinned her against a tree trunk, his clawed fingers clamped unyieldingly around her neck. “This Sesshoumaru would not sink so far as to trade with a lowly human.” His voice was hard.

Her hand gripped his wrist in a futile attempt to get him to remove his hand. She struggled and gasped, “Just listen to me. I'm not asking for a lot.”

The disrespectful wench needed to learn her place. Sesshoumaru tightened his grip. Her desperation increased, and the blunt tips of her fingers dug deeper into his wrist.

Then he saw the pleading look in her eyes. His lips tightened. Her large luminous eyes reminded him of Rin, he realized in disgust as his grip loosened involuntarily. Keeping his face impassive, he released her completely and watched her crumple to the ground in a trembling heap. Slowly, without looking at him, she straightened herself.

“Speak.” His tone was indifferent.

Hesitantly, she lifted her eyes to his. He could see the swirl of emotions in them. Fear, confusion and then finally resolve.

“I'll heal your arm in exchange for a chip of your fang…” she faltered. Appearing to think, she fell silent for a moment before she added in a stronger voice, “…and training.”

Sesshoumaru keep his expression blank. But he could not dampen the feeling of surprise which jolted him. His fang? And training? What for?

“Why do you need my fang?” he asked, the suspicion in his voice undisguised.

Again, she hesitated. His eyes narrowed. Her reluctance to inform him of what he wanted to know was beginning to grate on his nerves. Whether he decided to accept her trade or not, he hated to be kept in the dark about anything.

“Wench…” That one word carried a wealth of warning.

Kagome stiffened. “We need some of your fang to help seal Inuyasha's youkai blood,” she finally said, but not without a hint of reluctance.

Sesshoumaru stared at her thoughtfully. So that was what this was all about. Inuyasha had been behaving more erratic than usual because Tetsusaiga was unable to seal his youkai self. Totousai must have told them to acquire his superior fang. Sesshoumaru sneered inwardly. Weak hanyou. Inuyasha should learn to control himself better, Tetsusaiga or not.

Then he remembered the second part of her so-called trade. “The training?” he prompted.

She took a deep breath. “I need to be able to defend myself against Inuyasha. He's been…unpredictable.”

Training a human to hold her own against his half-brother? It was a ludicrous idea. “Find someone else. This Sesshoumaru do not train any humans,” he dismissed flatly, turning away.

To his surprise, he felt a sudden movement of air behind him. Swirling around, he grabbed her hand before the small appendage could cause him any harm. Not that it would. He heard her squeak in fear and pain, her eyes large in her face.

“Do. Not. Even. Try.” His words came out as a threatening hiss.

She cringed in front of him, but then the expression in her eyes hardened. “You know I can't harm you, you beast!” she all but yelled. “So let go of me.”

He did not heed her words. After all, who was she to order him around? Instead, he watched with morbid fascination as silvery sparks began to appear in her eyes. The human was so angry that she was shaking. He could see it, and he could feel it in the slender wrist in his hand. This was new. Normally humans were too scared of him, so much that they would not even dare to utter a single word, let alone brave enough to be angry.

Her face flushed with emotion, she gritted out, “If you don't want to help, then fine! Let Inuyasha be taken over by his youkai self. Let him go on a rampage on innocent humans and youkais.”

Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears as she continued, “Let him kill the one he had sworn to protect and regret it for the rest of his life.”

“It has nothing to do with this Sesshoumaru,” he said disinterestedly.

Her breath hitched in her throat, and Sesshoumaru watched emotionlessly as she fought for control. Then she spoke in a harder tone. “I see that you don't care.” With a derisive snort, she continued, “Why should you? You hate Inuyasha.”

A sudden heat sparked between his and her wrist, forcing him to loosen his grip. She yanked her hand away from him and stomped away. He stared at his hand, watching how it was smoking a little. The wench just burnt him with her miko powers. But the damage was small, hardly deserving any concern.

He closed his hand into a tight fist. Did she think that he cared what happened to that stupid hanyou brother of his? Or that Inuyasha might kill her in his youkai state?

He watched as her form grew smaller and smaller, wondering why he had not just grabbed her.

Then she disappeared from his sight.

***