InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Another Opens... ❯ The Chase ( Chapter 8 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter 8- The Chase


Come on, people! Inuyasha and related characters aren’t mine. The Hamayami is.


Recap: Kouga and Kagome have left together, and Inuyasha and Sesshomaru have gone after the kidnapped Rin. Miroku and Sango are after the female hanyou, will they find her? What happens next? Read on!


“Sister...?” Ginta, eyes bright with fever, looked up at her as Kagome bent over him.


“Relax, Ginta. It’s me,” she nodded soothingly, kneeling beside the wolf in the shallow cave near a stream that had been taken as a temporary den by the wolves. Hakkaku had greeted her with stunned delight-and no little surprise at what he smelled-when she and Kouga arrived earlier. She had concentrated on pushing off a thread of fear at entering another cave. After the earthquake, she was nervous.


Her kit open, she did what she could for Ginta. Kagome was grateful Kaede had taught her so much about herbs, not to mention her precious store of medicines. Nearly four years of dealing with wounds of all sorts was coming in handy now. Kagome was worried though, the arrow wound had days to fester.


“Thank you,” Ginta groaned.


“Think happy thoughts and try to rest,” she told him, looking up to see Ginta’s packmate Hakkaku watching with relief. That they hadn’t treated it properly showed how desperate they’d been. This, more than anything else, was convincing her they were innocent. Their tale had been shared as she’d worked, and leaning back, she rubbed her forehead with the back of her bloodied hand.


“I’ve done what I can for now. With luck, I think he’ll be ok, Hakkaku,” Kagome informed the other low wolf as their pack leader returned from washing up and getting the herbs off.


“Thank you, Kagome,” Kouga told her, smiling slightly as he sniffed absently...and his grin faded. What the hell? It couldn’t be! His eyes hardened, and his jaw clenched. Seeing this, she nodded to herself. Nothing blocking up Kouga’s nose now. Hakkaku had probably been too scared to say anything. A glance...yep. Petrified. The hanyou just closed her kit.


“I think it’s time we had that talk, Kouga,” Kagome said, rising to wash up. Hakkaku stayed to tend to Ginta, sure he didn’t want to hear this. The pair walked outside.


“Who the fuck-you-you’re not a-how did this happen??” Kouga was horrified. Kagome no longer had the scent of a virgin! She’d been touched, claimed...he felt sick.


Wolves joined with a single person. Just one, to a single mate for life. There were no others for them. Where the fuck was the mutt? The only damned thing he was good for was keeping bastards away from her! Sweet kami, it had to have been Sesshomaru! He wracked his brain, trying to remember their adoption customs. Was that how Inu adopted?


So she told him as she washed her hands in the stream. Most of it. Enough to allow him to understand. The wish, her bond, and...being courted.


“I’m...divorced now,” Kagome finally explained, not that it sunk in. Kouga sat, legs going out from under him, looking green, head in a daze, horror all over his face. The muttface. She’d permitted the muttface to-they’d-he’d-she’d...


Kouga, Lord of the Wolf Tribes, fainted.


He came to with Kagome and Hakkaku leaning over him.


“Kouga?” Hakkaku was disturbed at the look on his leader’s face. He wasn’t quite sure what it meant. Confusion, outrage...jealousy...shock was there, and other things.


“The mutt...marked you. Touched you...my woman...he dared...that bastard...you allowed it,” Kouga ground out, still lying there. She scowled.


“Sister, don’t worry, we’ll kill him for it! That-” Hakkaku promised.


“No! Inuyasha is my packsecond. Never call him that again. No one touches him, or my pack leader. Last we heard, you and Ayami had gotten together, Kouga. Like you promised her before you ever met me, as I recall,” Kagome shot back tartly.


“How could you believe that? You were with him! With him! After he made you hanyou!” he wailed, still lying there staring up at her. Looking down at him, she realized...he really was er-innocent. A sniff. Oh, my. Kouga had a certain sweetness to his scent that she now recognized. Inuyasha hadn’t had it, neither had Miroku or Sango...because none of them had been virgins when she’d known them.


“Kouga...uh...I told you. It’s not bad. Besides, we’re divorced. Sorta,” she looked away, and flushed. Why? Why hadn’t he? He was powerful, healthy...and unmated. Of course! Wolves mated for life! Oh, dear.


“What is a divorce, sister?” Hakkaku asked, confused. One mated, and was well, a mate.


“It’s when, um, mates aren’t mates anymore,” Kagome tried.


“You mean...you aren’t his mate?” Kouga asked carefully.


“Not anymore. I was, but I’m not. No mark,” she admitted. Not anymore...


“Then-” he paused, rising to a sitting position, swallowing bile as he studied her for a long time. “It’s not too late. Sesshomaru...is his half-brother. Different Mothers,” he seemed to be reminding himself. Inu were an unfaithful lot, taking more then one to themselves. Shameful. “We...can still mate,” Kouga decided, looking relieved.


“Mate? Uh...” Kagome looked pained.


“I forgive you, Kagome! Don’t worry. When we mate, we’ll have an alliance now, Wolf and Inu. I’m sure Sesshomaru will agree, he has no choice! I’ll make it up to you, having to settle for the muttfa-Inuyasha,” his eyes lit as he corrected himself.


So. The hanyou was her packsecond? Damn. Sneaky son of a bitch, using her to get in with his birth Clan! Probably was why he‘d come after her, the clumsy common baka. Surely the mutt had been a poor mating partner as well, he’d be a much more pleasing one to her, poor Kagome, accepting second best-because he’d left her, thought he‘d abandoned her. Because of that Yotogi...another mark was put on his list of things to get his own back for.


“You forgive me,” she replied faintly, and took a deep breath before she looked at the wolf.


Better that instead of shooting him down now, or allow the instinct to rend him or kick the arrogance out of him...to override her sense. Her ears twitched quite a bit though and she flushed. Kouga didn’t realize it, but when he’d simply laid claim to her as his property, it was truly over between them. There were only two beings in the world Kagome showed throat to-and he wasn’t one of them. Nor could he ever be.


Kouga could say what he liked, hope what he wished, but her hand was claimed already. Marks of the heart didn’t fade, and hers had been stolen away by a boy pinned to a tree. By a deadly, fierce hanyou...her beloved baka. Sesshomaru would never agree to her being courted by a wolf in any case. No need to mention it now, though.


“I helped Ginta. Now...tell me what is going on, Kouga. Everything,” she asked as she sat by the stream, hands folded over her bow in her lap.


Kouga actually gulped. The way she spoke, her posture, all of it-spoke of power. Kagome was magnificent, a strong, bold bitch, and she ran with her own pack. She had all the hallmarks of one who was confident of her place and could hold it with ease. Oh, the strength and grace were always there before, but the youkai that now tinged her made her something extraordinary. What had horrified Inuyasha had a different effect on the wolf. Quite the opposite one to the hanyou’s, in fact.


He nodded, forcing himself to become the leader he was again, not the Kouga who loved her, and they spoke. He told her everything-told his woman...but it was Lady Kagome who judged and weighed his words. When he was finished, she merely nodded sadly. Poor Ayami. That bright, clever wolf girl was gone. Walking and talking...but gone. Kouga ought to have wed her as he'd promised her, she reflected as a weight of guilt washed over her. Instead, he chose to chase her, and Ayami-all of them-were paying for it. For putting himself over his duty to her and his people.


Youkai lived for mates...killed for mates...and died for them sometimes.


“I see,” she replied. “She’s crazed-and you are an idiot for attempting to fight her on her own terms, instead of getting help sooner. Instead, you try and steal me. That was dumb, so was posturing to Yotogi instead of telling him. Could have saved us all a lot of trouble, and the lives of my people and yours if you’d thought,” Kagome said coldly, and Kouga looked like he’d been slapped.


She had changed.


“We’ll need to move fast. Ginta ought not to be moved much though. He’s too sick,” she announced after a long moment.


“I-I’ll stay with him, sister. You and Kouga...” Hakkaku answered hesitantly.


“Fine,” Kouga rose, eyeing her. Kagome’s gaze was currently barely a hair’s breadth from a challenge. He stiffened as she watched him. Suddenly...she heard a soft buzzing, turned...and if Sesshomaru had seen what happened next, he would have been truly proud.


***


As dawn broke, though...the Lord had other matters on his mind. Rin was alive, and unharmed. That much they could read from her traces. He actually had to admit it to himself, Inuyasha was indeed proving useful. His nose was sensitive enough to trace the escaping traitors, but when they concealed it-Inuyasha was the one who found their trails. They hardly spoke, save what was needed to hunt.


“This way,” Inuyasha said, rising from his crouch as they traveled across nearly bare stone. Sesshomaru merely nodded. Nothing to be seen from the air, they were well aware of his capabilities...but the hanyou was proving adept at tracking them.


“Good.” Strange...it was like hunting with Father-not like Kagome. When they had had to track someone, it wasn’t the same. A sudden smack drew the hanyou’s eye. Sesshomaru held his hand to his neck-and scowled, golden eyes narrowing as something small fell.


Myouga.


“Have you no mercy, my Lord...?” the flea wailed as he hit the ground.


“What do you here, Myouga?” He never did have a true scent, the little-


“Er...well, no one said I could not accompany you, and er...your blood is quite delicious, my Lord. Just as I remember it. I‘ve always had a weakness for spicy blood,” Myouga admitted.


“Since when does a coward like you come along?” Inuyasha asked, frowning. Like he remembered? What the hell did that mean? He came over, and plucked the flea up and held him in his claws.


“When both my Lord’s sons are headed into battle, well...and when Lord Seshomaru leaves the Kuroi-yaiba after carrying it, er...” There was some squirming.


“You could not resist observing.” Sesshomaru resumed walking. Inuyasha followed.


“What’s the Kuroi-yaiba? When the hell did he hang around you, Sesshomaru?” he asked, puzzled, and he could swear his half-brother almost made a face.


“Father ordered the flea to tutor you. Clearly, again he failed to explain many things,” Sesshomaru said, and Myouga sighed.

“I did not! I just didn’t see the reason to well-go into things!” the flea protested.


“The old man sent Myouga...to stay with me?” It made sense, he’d admit it. Myouga had always been around when he was a kid, but always stayed out of his Mother’s sight. When he’d left the castle, the flea had showed up again, taught him...


“He did it for you too, didn’t he?” the hanyou scowled at the flea. If Inuyasha had known that-there was a time he’d have squashed him without a thought.


“Yes. Well, it was my duty, Master Inuyasha, to teach and look after all of my Lord’s children,” Myouga admitted.


“Damn,” he said, letting the flea jump into his hair. A glance at Sesshomaru.


“The Kuroi-yaiba is the Sword Lord Sesshomaru carried to your lair, my Lord,” Myouga began softly, and there was a low growl. The hanyou felt the flea move deeper into his hair.


“The Sword belonged to my Mother. We will speak no more of it.” It had seemed fitting to cleanse the world of Izayoi’s son with it, and his vassals as well...a poetic justice.


***


The Samiyusho was slick, but not enough.


She heard-and then saw it. Naraku’s old poisoned insect spies. Ayami saw them then. Kagome realized they were being watched. What the insect saw and heard, it would tell it’s mistress. No way she’d nail it with the Hamayami...but Kouga had detailed everything! His people’s defenses, their strength, her relationship to her pack leader and second...no! It couldn’t be allowed to go off and report! Ayami would use it...she felt heat in her fingers...a strange pull...without thinking, she took her fingertips in one clawed hand and pulled, snapping her wrist!


The thin whip of light that shot from her fingers snapped the thing in half with a soundless flick. Kouga had frozen at the sight, and his eyes flicked to it as she instinctively retracted the whip back into herself.


Sesshomaru had always been sure she had another attack. It was a blood trait of the House...and he’d reasoned that the power that had infused her had given her the same gifts as Inuyasha. But she’d never needed a distance weapon before with her bow!


“Oh yes!” Kagome flung her arms up with a victory yell! Kouga was speechless as he rose and inspected the sliced in half Samiyusho.


“Kagome...” he breathed. Her power, her beauty...she would be his, he decided. No matter what he had to do, no other could ever be his mate. The hanyou mutt was a fool.


***


“Soon,” Ayami said, leaning against a tree, smiling at Kokuzoku. The enraged Lord scowled at her, the stupid wolf bitch!


“Take them now! If we fail to kill them-”


“Relax, Lord Kokuzoku. I only have a few of the Samiyusho left, and they tell me wonderful things. Our new friends are coming, and they ought to have a gift of welcome waiting, don’t you think?” a pause, as she frowned slightly. “That is, if your friends are truly coming to ally with me. Don’t think I won’t make you suffer if they don’t. I might even let dear Sesshomaru have you, he’ll make it last, I think.”

“They come. They have as much cause to hate the Inutaisho as you and I,” Kokuzoku answered heavily, glaring at his packmates and at a small, bound and gagged human brat. Rin. His insurance.

“Good. Then you ought to be happy! Don‘t worry. They’ll all be dead soon enough,” Ayami said expansively, smiling. And so would he, of course...but he didn’t need to know that. Lord Naraku had taught her well. Never let a tool know they expendable until it was too late. As she had been, yes, but eventually a most willing one. Her mind went to the topic of her new allies to be.


The Panther Tribe. A lovely sort of name, all slinky. The Monk and Sango would never reach their destination. Kokuzoku and his friends would see to that-with a little help from her. All of them had helped hunt and slay her mate...only right they be brought to tremble before her and die together.

Lovely.