InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Blood and Lust ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

A/N: All right, here's chapter 1 rewritten! Go me, it's fixed! Maybe this fic will actually be worth reading now… Oh well. Have fun, folks! And, by the way, her name is not currently “Rin” (but you may notice that I don't write her name often, or at all) but I assure you, she is Rin. If you're confused, bear with me. You'll understand in the next couple of chapters.

~ : POV/Scene angle change (focusing on one person to focusing on another)

- : Scene change (one time to another or one place to another)

 

 

 

Understanding is something that the wise say comes with age, but true enlightenment waits for no one.

 

-

 

When the sun arose, the girl could barely think. Everything about the day before was just a fog of images; nothing stood out in her mind except a pair of eyes.

 

Her brother's eyes.

 

She sat up straight and stiff, breathing in a sharp, shallow breath. It hadn't been a dream. Her family was gone, and she had no one. Her heart spasmed in agony as she realized just how alone she was. She was barely a woman and on her own. It was doubtful that she'd even survive for more than a few days.

 

Then again, did she really want to?

 

She shook her head. How could she go on? Her father, her mother, Shuku…His face would forever haunt her. She didn't know how the people she had grown up with could be so cruel. The villagers…was it possible that they had really murdered her family? They were always so kind and caring; the elders always seemed so wise, and they always took care of everyone.

 

Reminiscing was getting her nowhere fast. She dug her nails in the dirt and leaned heavily against the tree she had slept beneath. The long, thin strands of leaves waved gently in the summer breeze. How could the day be so happy?

 

She held her breath and tightened her chest for a moment. She had to stop remembering; she needed to get out of this forest and find a way to survive. She wouldn't let their deaths be in vain, and she would find a way to set their souls to rest. Eventually, things would be as right as they possibly could.

 

-

 

The chilled water stiffened her muscles, but felt so wonderful on the torn skin of her feet and the scratches that graced her skin. The forest was beautiful, but bare feet and arms weren't a way to keep healthy. She rubbed at the irritated skin, trying to remove the caked dirt and dried blood. She winced and hissed in pain when one of them started bleeding again. “That one must've been deeper than I thought.”

 

Once she was satisfied that her cuts and bruises weren't going to be too much trouble, she began rubbing at her face and scratching her scalp while putting her head under the water of the stream. The filth that clung to her was maddening, and she scrubbed with her fingers and hands until she could no longer feel her face. She sighed, calming her frenzied actions. `I can't become so obsessed with everything else so I forget…I'll end up driving myself insane.'

 

The air as she got out of the stream was cool and wracked chills through her body. Her muscles protested as she bent them to pick up her filthy clothing and bring them to the stream to wash them. They were stained with mud, grass, and blood and would soon be worthless. It was all she could do to keep them from falling apart when she dipped them in the cold water.

 

~

 

His eyes watched the naked figure dipping and scrubbing the torn and ragged cloth as he crouched in the bushes. What was she doing here? This was his territory, and he couldn't be certain that this little human woman wasn't a danger to his clan. And, if she was…

 

…well, Ginta, at least, would definitely enjoy her.

 

The fangs in his mouth grazed his lower lip as she began to stand. Her long black hair fell against her back and stuck to the skin with a wet slap. Although he would normally be brazen and simply kill the wench, there might be others, and he didn't need another angry village after his pack. The last time that had happened was years before, and the human-child they had taken got away with only one scar, leaving his pack less two wolves from the blades of the humans. He sighed; there was no other choice but to follow her until he had decided if she was a threat, one way or another. Scratching his nose lightly, he set back to wait.

 

-

 

She had been wandering aimlessly for what had to have been days. Eventually, her legs could no longer support her malnourished body and they simply gave out. That left her stranded on a large root on the edge of a small clearing covered in grass. Hydrangea petals littered the ground, some dancing slightly in the wind. Although the view was beautiful, her eyes could barely focus on the ground directly in front of her. Her body nearly cried out for sleep and sustenance, keeping her from continuing her journey.

 

She had been walking in circles, anyway.

 

A frustrated sob filled the air, followed by a dull thump. Her shoulders hunched over as they shook with the force of her cries, her arm lifting as much as it could and slamming back into the ground. “Why? Why is all this happening to me?” Her voice cracked slightly and ended in a high-pitched squeak. The force of her emotions destroyed the last of her strength and her torso fell to the dirt. Things couldn't possibly get any worse.

 

Oh how wrong she realized she was as she stared into the eyes of a large man. Her own eyes widened in shock and fear, muscles tensing and preparing to use whatever strength they might have left to push her up and run as far and as fast as she could. A look of pure, unadulterated terror settled on her face, her open mouth ready to emit a powerful scream. All that she managed to get out was a dry, soft cry of “Ookami!”

 

~

 

Kouga tilted his head at her antics. Her fright was pungent in the air, overloading his senses. He doubted that she had the strength to run, but if she did, his love for the hunt would overwhelm him. He wouldn't be held responsible for the consequences. When he had had first discovered the little human woman-child wandering his forest, he had hardly believed that she was in his territory; even more, he didn't think she would be foolish enough to remain there. He had thought them smart enough to avoid battles with demons, but that must have been a misconception.

 

As he processed his thoughts on the creature in front of him - dinner, pet, or otherwise - Kouga took in her tattered, filthy appearance. No, maybe he had been right about humans not being stupid enough to get into another inter-species war; maybe this girl was a sacrifice. She didn't look to be worth much to a village of farmers, but she was, under all of that caked dirt, fairly pretty…for a human. Perhaps he would give her to his pack until they were through with her, then feed her to his wolf-brethren. Yes, he decided, this would do nicely. “Up,” he barked, letting a low, threatening growl resonate in his chest.

 

All the woman-child did in response was stare up at him, terrified. This would not do. Although the fear seeping into the air made his senses run wild, Kouga did not have time for this nonsense. His growl grew from a low rumble to a loud roar, startling her and making her flinch. He smirked when the girl stumbled backward, completing half of a backwards somersault and landing on her back.

 

“I said `Up.'”

 

She whimpered, but, obviously sensing that obeying him was the only way she would get out of this situation unharmed, she shakily put a hand underneath her. As she curled her legs under her, trying to force them to hold her weight, he studied her. Fairly young, but definitely of breeding age - he'd have to watch that; he didn't want the pack to spawn any hanyou filth in the event that she proved a decent pet and was kept - with full, perky breasts and a slender figure. She wasn't tall, which was good. He didn't want her to try intimidating any of the younger males; although, from the looks of her, she wouldn't try anything so stupid just yet. Yes, she would make a fine pet, until the boys used her up.

 

Hopefully, if she proved worthy, the sustenance they would provide her with would help her last a bit. Kouga hated having to deal with the butting males when they didn't have a pet on whom they could vent their sexual and physical frustrations.

 

-

 

The wolf den was surprisingly cozy.

 

She never would have thought it, but she almost wanted to stay there in the stone cave with the soft-looking pelt-beds. They were much nicer than she had ever seen, and it even looked like some of the skins might have been wildcat. For a split second, that surprised her - who would be foolish enough to hunt a wildcat, after all? - until she remembered that this was the home of a wolf pack. Of course, dog hunts cat. She should have been feeling the cat, but the ookami leader - she assumed he was the leader, at least - hadn't done anything to her since he found her; all he had done was throw her over his shoulder and drag her to his pack, and they hadn't started attacking her yet. Maybe they wouldn't at all. Maybe they would let her live. Maybe they would help her. Maybe…

 

“Oi, onna. Stop daydreaming and get your sorry ass over here.”

 

Maybe not.

 

She bit her lip and moaned inwardly as her little bit of misplaced hope was squelched. This would be no better than wandering alone in the woods, she was sure of that. In the woods, at least, she wasn't surrounded by vicious, bloodthirsty youkai. She quickly stole a glance farther into the cavern and shivered as she saw nothing but darkness and eyes staring back at her; why hadn't she noticed that before? Aware that her original captor was eyeing her, still waiting for her to continue following him, she lowered her gaze and urged her sore and malnourished muscles to shuffle her forward. The only way she was going to get out of this alive was to do as she was told…at least, for now.

 

~

 

Kouga waited for the human to take the few steps needed to reach him; waited patiently, he might add. But when the little bitch simply did not obey, he growled and walked to her. He didn't like it when he was ignored. The vice-like grip he took on her upper arm told her so. Who was he to know that she had been trying? Who was he to care? He roughly shoved her forward into the darkness of the den, growling a low command to a young female of the pack. Not but seconds later, the lights in the cave were lit, and a warm hearth flickered gaily in the background.

 

“Nee, Kouga, what have you brought us? Dinner?”

 

“Do not overstep your place, Akima. Kouga-sama will tell us when he is ready. Until then, pup, keep your mouth.”

 

Kouga smiled at this sharp rebuke and softly barked an approval at the female, likely to win in a fight against the others for the alpha position when the time came. Perhaps he would take her as a mate. The female bowed her head and smiled a pleasured, wicked smile. She was cocky. Perhaps he would have to fix that.

 

He huffed and mentally shook himself out of his thoughts and on to more pressing matters. He practically threw the human woman, now pet, at the younger female who he had told to light the hearth and candles. She caught the new pet with ease, supporting her when her legs gave out. “Migure, see that she is fed. I will bring back a carcass for the rest of you.” With that, he was, once again, gone.

 

It didn't take a telepath to realize that the pet was wondering if she'd now be fed her own limbs.

 

~

 

Her eyes widened in terror as the wolf leader - for she was sure now that he was, in fact, the leader - left her in the care of his pack. If he hadn't fed them already, would they simply eat her? She had seen what wolves and wolf-youkai were capable of, and she didn't particularly want to relearn the process. The young wolf supporting her - Migure? - glared at the others, who were obviously eyeing her with a look of hunger…but she couldn't tell if it was from desire to eat her or something else. She decided that it was the unknown something else that scared her more. So, with muscles shaking from having to produce non-existent energy to support her, and with lungs spasming as she tried and failed to take steady breaths, she attempted to draw away from the wolf-girl.

 

The arms around her only tightened. Fearful of what would happen if she tried to retaliate, she simply let herself go lax in the arms of her new captor. When nothing painful happened, she looked up into the face of this Migure, and was surprised that the wolf-girl looked quite young, but far from innocent. Migure's eyes conveyed an eerie intelligence, something that unnerved her a great deal. She couldn't quite place it, but she didn't like the feeling that looking at these eyes gave her.

 

Migure easily shifted her so that she was no longer dragging her limbs across the ground and carried her to a soft pelt-covered cushion. The wolf-girl turned around and stepped into the shadows of the cave, disappearing except for a bushy little tail. Tail? None of the others had a tail, so why did Migure? She couldn't quite comprehend, but decided that, just maybe, she didn't want to.

 

When the other girl returned and set a small platter of, thankfully, cooked meat in front of her, she just stared at it. What if they'd poisoned it? But wait…youkai wouldn't go to all that trouble just to kill a human girl. If they'd wanted her dead, she would be long dead and eaten. She shuddered and wondered just who was on her plate.

 

“It's wild goat, bitch. You're lucky that Kouga is feeding you at all.”

 

Migure's strange silver eyes spoke command beyond the youthful expression she wore. The wolf-girl glared at the offending orator, but eventually returned to stare at her, silently, but powerfully, commanding her to eat. She couldn't help but obey, so long as those ghostly orbs focused on something other than herself. With as much self-restraint as she could muster, she picked up the meat, put it to her mouth, and ripped off a small bite. After so many days without sustenance, eating this too fast would likely make her ill. So, she chewed slowly, enjoying the first taste of real food she had had in days, possibly a week. It felt buttery on her tongue, the fat attached to the meat having oozed its oil into the meat while it cooked. She licked her lips.

 

At this point, she didn't even notice Migure's uncanny stare; all that mattered was this meat. It was her life; without it, she would fly away to the land of the dead, she felt sure of that. The heaven that was her first meal with the wolves lasted for what seemed years, but what must have been mere minutes. When she had finished, Migure put a small saucer of water in front of her. The cool liquid was pure joy, soothing her parched throat and cooling her from the inside out. She shivered, but this time it was not at all unpleasant.

 

The sensation was short-lived. Her euphoria was abruptly brought to a halt when Migure lightly yanked her to her feet and dragged her outside of the cave, past all of the unnerving eyes that she had momentarily been able to forget. Her legs were still weak, but she no longer stumbled and fell when the other girl dragged her down the steep slope toward the bottom of the mountain in which the den was located. She winced when her still-raw feet scraped against the stone and dirt, but Migure didn't falter in her fast pace. It wasn't until they reached level ground that their pace slowed to a brisk walk. She padded along behind the wolf-girl as lightly as she could, trying to be mindful of her sore and, once again, bleeding feet.

 

Soon enough, thankfully, the other girl halted, giving her a view of a grand spring. She was hoping that she guessed right and that Migure had led her here to bathe. And, Goddess be praised, she was right. She was aware that she would have no chance of privacy, so she didn't bother asking and just removed her tattered and filthy garments. After doing so, she stepped into the surprisingly warm water and let her sore muscles soak in the heat and relax. Hoping that Migure would let her remain her for a bit, she stretched out and didn't immediately start scrubbing. When she didn't hear a complaint, she heaved an inward sigh of relief and immersed herself completely in the water.

 

“Ahh…” It felt so good to be taking a warm bath again. Back home, it had been a luxury that she allowed herself only on days when she had extra time; it took a while to gather the wood and heat the water, but she never regretted it. Her breath hitched in her throat. Back home. Where it all had…

 

She was stripped out of her thoughts when a slight thump beside her caught her attention. There, to her right, was a small pile of chamomile and jasmine, along with other herbs and a mortar and pestle. Delighted, she looked up at Migure, hoping that these were for her. When the other girl merely stared glossily into her eyes, she looked away nervously and began scrubbing the filth from her body.

 

When that was done, she did the same with her hair and scalp. Picking up the grinding tool, she placed the plants into it and began working them into a pulp. After a few muscle-wrenching moments, she managed to grind it all, more than a little dismayed that she was still so weak. Then again, she realized, one meal after a week of starvation would not do much to bring her body back to its finest. So, forcing herself to be satisfied with what little improvement she had made, she wet her head again and began working the mixture into her hair and scalp.

 

It felt so delicious, tingling on her head. She had never felt so clean and refreshed in her life, and she relished every moment of it. Massaging her scalp delicately, she craned her neck and began washing away the herbal substance. She was nearly through when she was disturbed from her reverie by a decidedly male voice. Squawking loudly, she brought her arms up to cover her chest and shoved her body deeper into the spring.

 

When she saw who it was, she had to fight with all of her will to choke on her much-needed outburst of “hentai!” It took much effort, but she managed to avoid shouting the insult, however true she felt it was.

 

~

 

Kouga smirked. The new pet was obviously trying very hard to keep its tongue, and he liked that. He would enjoy breaking her, and was glad that there was still some fight left in the body that, just hours ago, had been nearly dead. His smirk turned into a full-blown lecherous grin. “Get out of the pool and put this on.” He deliberately set the plain brown pants and white top on the ground out of her reach and awaited her reaction.

 

The incredulous look upon her face was reward enough for him, but he continued waiting for her to remove herself from the water and dress. “I am not patient, and you would be loathe to have me dress you myself, human.” His smile exhibited his long, sharp fangs, and he heard her fearful gulp. Oh, how he loved this game. It took but a moment longer, and she was pulling herself out of the water, still covering her chest, but unable to cover any more. Truthfully, her body didn't interest him so much as her reaction to his presence and command. He was the alpha male of a wolf pack and naturally dominant. Her fear and embarrassment inspired him in so many ways. Yes, he would enjoy breaking her a great deal.

 

~

 

She couldn't believe it! He was degrading her like she was no more than a common slave! Hah. She mentally smacked herself. She was no more to him than a common slave. Covering as much of her breasts as she could, she walked quickly to the clothes that the youkai had dropped for her. Keeping one arm on her chest at all times, she struggled into the pants, attempting to tie them with only one hand. That didn't work too well, so she quickly dropped her other hand, tied them, and reached for the shirt. It was halfway on when she heard a loud, terrifying growl.

 

Looking over to the inhuman sound, she noticed that the youkai's eyes were focused…on the scar above her collarbone.

 

“You…” the feral voice snarled. “The child that cause the death of my kinsmen…”

 

Instinct took over, and all she could do was run.

 

 

A/N: Okay, so this was a fairly long chapter! Yay. I actually did this in one day, but it just takes me forever to get around to writing. So, hopefully I'll get around to revamping/writing (I don't think it can really be considered revamping…the old story is now more like an outline) the next chapter soon.

Hmm…for all you Kouga fans, don't expect to see much of him, at least for a while. When/if he comes back, he'll be more of the Kouga you know and love.

Until next time, minna-san! -Anata