InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bound to Tomorrow ❯ Missing In Action ( Chapter 10 )

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the delay, guys. I truly had not been anticipating this. I have just two classes to complete this semester and then I'll be graduated. Of course, these classes have to be unbelievably difficult. Why should I have an easy semester, eh? The replacement fiber teacher in one class is a slave-driver to the point where I have to work on art pieces every day of the week. On top of that my second class turned out to be extremely tough and requires a LOT of studying.

My updates will likely be a little longer in coming and I apologize for that in advance.

Fortunately, there's a bit of good news. This chapter turned out to be particularly long so I divided it up into two chapters. I'm not finished with the next chapter but it's already on-going so hopefully I can get it finished up soon.

-*-

To catch and kill a demon one cultured a strict reliance on the senses. It had been bred into Kohaku at a tender age. Sight revealed the innocuous inconsistencies in a cracked branch or scratched earth which would point the way like a shining beacon to a demon's lair. Sound (or a lack of sound) reverberating through the bamboo trees could identify a demon on the move. The fading warmth from a den bed whispered warnings of a demon not far from its home. The coppery smell of fresh blood could be used as a lure to draw youkai into a trap. Having been raised on such knowledge left Kohaku completely unprepared to rely on the intangible nature of a sixth sense.

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Knocking out Miroku had very nearly killed his ability to concentrate on the call of the woods. He had worked quickly to cut away a small section of his dark clothing so that he could tuck it away in the monk's robes for the dog demon to find. Normally, he would not have allowed anyone to track him. It went against everything he knew as a hunter. Then again, things were not so normal this time around. Something had managed to spirit away his nigh-impregnable elder sister!

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What was more troubling was that signs of battle pointed towards a short fight. It did not make sense. The women of their clan became fierce forces to reckon with when they had children—and Sango had four. The clan encouraged the women to use their protective mothering instincts to hone them into even better hunters. She should have fought to the death before allowing any of her children to be taken. However, the attack on Edo appeared to have been brief and relatively bloodless. According to the deep, tell-tale gashes on the ground, his sister had fought hard but then suddenly, the activity of her footprints and Hiraikotsu stopped. To Kohaku's keen eye it appeared that she had been plucked right out of the middle of the battle rather suddenly and without much of a fight. That concerned him. Certain kinds of demons left behind those marks. Usually, they had some sort of quick, take-down ability. Like a paralyzing agent or sleeping spell. But then, that was what the masks were for, and he knew Sango would be wearing hers. Something that could snatch her away like that in spite of her considerable training and high-quality equipment was extremely dangerous to say the least. Kohaku knew instinctively that he had to make sure back-up was sure to follow. He could not wait and lose his opportunity to sense out this demon, but he was mature enough at his age to consider that he might be out-matched on his own. That was why he had left the scrap of fabric for Inu Yasha. If he failed alone with no back-up, then he knew his sister and her children were equally as lost.

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The hunter had been carefully picking his way through the forest when he suddenly felt uneasy. He stood still, gripping the handle of his sickle tightly. A few years ago Kohaku would have brushed the feeling off as pre-hunt jitters but now he knew better. He closed his eyes and took few long, slow breaths to clear his mind. Then, he waited. It had taken some time for him to understand that he could not actively seek out the source of the feeling. Rather, the feeling found him.

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He obediently followed the numinous ebb and flow of the feeling wherever it took him. After much trial and error he had learned the hard way that what he latched on to had no intention other than to restore balance to the woods. However, it was not particularly coherent in translating that desire to the human. Often, he might be led back and forth across the same section of the woods several times. When he was younger and more impulsive Kohaku would question the frustratingly redundant and slow directions. Eventually, though, he came to realize that his own frustration impeded his progress and he found that he arrived at the source of the disturbance much quicker when he did not try to force it. All he could do was drift along with the current flowing through his mind. In time he would find it… as long as he stayed patient.

-*-

It had to be a dream. Hushed, frightened voices were all around her in the darkness. It was ethereal…and too quiet. Edo was a bustling village and she knew she should have heard more than the occasional whimper. No, it could not be Edo, Sango reasoned mentally. A cold feeling settled in the pit of her stomach as the huntress began to claw her way to consciousness.

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“Oh! She's coming around!” Sango heard a woman's excited whisper.

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It took her several seconds to realize she had been moving around. It felt like her arms and legs were made of lead. Her limbs felt heavy and numb. Paralysis? Her mind wondered, suddenly very alarmed. Someone was pressing cold fingers to her forehead and she winced.

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“Yes, you're right, Aiko, hold on a minute, let me get over there…” A second female voice murmured.

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The coldness of this `Aiko' woman's hands eased her bleary concerns as the huntress in her began to re-emerge. She could feel her face. That was good. Gradually Sango became aware that she could also feel the fingertips of her left hand which was touching damp earth. Her eyes opened slowly but saw little. At first she thought she had been blinded as well until her vision adjusted to a dimly-lit view of a cave's ceiling.

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The second woman's voice was closer than when she had first heard. For the first time Sango tried to address one of the two voices but found she could only croak inarticulately. She mentally checked that off her list of cooperating body parts.

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“Don't try to speak, ma'am.” The second voice stated. The knowledgeable timbre of her voice carried with it a sense that she was wise despite the apparent youthfulness.

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Sango nodded that she understood reflexively and found to her relief that her head and neck were now functional. It seemed that whatever poison had been introduced to her system (and she assumed that had been what had incapacitated her in the first place) it appeared to be temporary.

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“Look, Shoko!” Aiko's voice piped up. “She's moved her head already!”

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The second voice, now identified as `Shoko' hummed thoughtfully before she responded, “Hmm, yes, she seems to be recovering remarkably quickly.”

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The huntress turned her eyes in the direction of Shoko's voice. The woman's knees were the first thing she could see and they were covered in the familiar red fabric of a hakama. Another miko, then… Sango internally noted. Her eyes moved up from the knees of the woman to find her face. Shoko's white haori confirmed Sango's deduction while her round face, albeit young and not quite as old as she, radiated a thoughtful calm that spoke volumes of her intelligence. The huntress tried to mouth a few questions to her but found her lips were slow to respond. Apparently, her face had not yet regained some of its fine motor skills. The miko took one look at her attempts and began supplying information as if she had answered such queries a dozen times before.

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“As far as you can see and I can tell we're inside a cave.” Shoko began. “It's not like any cave near my village; do you recognize it? Oh, pardon my manners, I am Shoko and this one is Aiko.”

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Shoko gestured towards a young peasant girl on the cusp of womanhood. She had cherubic baby cheeks coupled with an awkwardly bony frame which had yet to develop curves. She had to be barely older than her twins. Oh gods, the twins! The shock brought forth to mind the recollection of Sango's last conscious moments in Edo. Her daughters had come running towards her as she fought a losing battle against a hoard of raging demons side-by-side with Kaede. Yuriko and Kimiko carried armfuls of paper talisman that had been created and stockpiled by their father for youkai hunts. Sango tried to tell them that the talisman would not work without the proper handling from a Buddhist monk but she became too engrossed with the battle to argue.

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Most mothers would have been horrified to find their children on the battlefield but in her clan the children were trained to hunt and utilize weaponry as soon as they could walk. Children were expected to participate in hunts and help defend their home. How else could they survive in their demon-ridden world? Miroku did not object much either; he was rather relieved that they would be raised to defend themselves. The houshi claimed that the boys would be less troublesome to them as well. At that time his wife had curtly pointed out that her training had not stopped a certain troublesome monk.

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While her daughters were in the midst of battle the huntress wondered if she had not trained them well enough. They had brought Buddhist talisman into a battle without a Buddhist monk, the folly! Yet the twins seemed oblivious. They attached the small strips of paper to throwing knives and began expertly slinging them into the foreheads of the demonic hoard. To her utter astonishment the hit demons began shrieking and froze in place as their skin began to bubble and hiss around the paper. Sango stared, blinking several times as she witnessed her young daughters vaporizing lesser demons and immobilizing the more powerful ones.

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Kaede's terse call brought her mind back into focus, “Quit ye gawking! Tis naught the time for ye to be questioning a mira—…”

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The old woman's words were cut off when something slashed into her shoulder out of nowhere. Sango could hear her two daughters scream Kaede's name. She barked to her girls to stay focused. Then she heard a whistling sound of something rapidly approaching. She ducked and felt the wind rush over her head. The voice of a young man was at her ear.

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“Wow, you're pretty good… but not good enough.”

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She had felt a sharp stab of pain and then everything had gone dark.

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Her girls! Oh she'd left her girls there alone! Sango struggled to sit up. The feeling had returned to her arms but they weren't entirely cooperating. Aiko helped to lean her up against the cave wall for support.

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“M-my girls…” Sango rasped. “Where're my girls?”

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“My goodness, you are a strong woman! Your voice has already returned to you.” Aiko gushed excitedly.

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“Girls?” Shoko murmured; her ebony eyes darted about the dim space. “There are many girls here. What are they wearing?”

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“They look identical; ten and eleven years old. Yuriko has a red checkered yukata and Kimiko has a green one with the same design.” The huntress wanted to hope her girls were safe but experience told her that such pipe dreams only made it that much more difficult to bear unpleasant and inevitable news. She and Kaede had been the most seasoned fighters in Edo while the rest of the gang was away and if they could be taken out so quickly then it was a waste of energy to hope that her young, untrained girls had escaped. That pessimism allowed the demon hunter to keep her mind nimble in such a situation. Shoko quickly confirmed her fears.

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“Ah, yes, I know of whom you speak.” The miko replied before turning her gaze to the other girl. “Aiko, please go see if they are awake, will you?”

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For a moment the girl appeared reluctant to leave but Shoko's unwavering and authoritative gaze spurred her to move finally. When she was out of earshot the miko leaned closer to the hunter.

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“Those girls are twins, are they not?” She whispered as she scanned the cave to be sure that no one else could be listening.

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Sango flinched at the comment. In her time twins were considered auspicious symbols capable of calling forth exceptionally good or horrifically bad luck. Cultural beliefs dictated that twins upset the natural order of the world. To most, imbalance was viewed as dangerous even when it was favorable. Preferably, an imbalance ought to have been eliminated. Others believed that twins were the result of a bestial union with a youkai. Such sentiments could also be deadly. Consequently, women keeping multiples often lied about the age of their twins publically in order to protect them from superstitious villagers. Only those in Edo knew differently because of their more progressive beliefs. Still, they were far from Edo at present and this woman was completely alien to her.

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“No. They're not…”

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“Do not worry.” Shoko gave the woman's hand a comforting pat “I do not place my belief in such petty fears. I had Aiko move them away from the others…for their safety. Some of the women here have become, well, hysterical and they are too willing to seek blame in innocents.”

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The huntress visibly relaxed for a moment. Then she realized that she could feel Shoko's hand on hers. Perhaps she could attempt to sit up? Minutes later, with some help from the miko, Sango was able to maneuver herself into a sitting position. Feeling had returned to her arms and legs; though they felt as heavy as stone.

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“My thanks, lady Shoko,” Sango began as she searched for any sign of her girls.

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She could not keep worrying like this if she wanted to keep her mind focused. She needed to talk; to force her mind away from lingering fears that would otherwise paralyze a normal person.

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“How long have you been awake?” She queried.

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“I am not sure. There're only women here. We are kept far from the entrance so I have not been able to gauge the direction of the sun. However, I'm fairly certain that I have been awake for at least two days. There were others who had been here longer…”

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“Were…?” Past tense was always a bad sign.

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“Yes, they were taken by the demons.” Shoko's voice echoed hollowly, “Every few days or so the demons take some of them—always the ones who have been there the longest—down deeper into this cave.”

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Sango was perplexed, “They're not eating them?”

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It was not uncommon for demons to keep humans in a pen for later feeding frenzies. All the hunters had seen it before. The demons stored what they could not eat right away, but they did not drag them off somewhere else when they were hungry. They simply gobbled them up, right from the pen, when it was time. That was when another thought struck Sango. Since when had she ever seen a holding pen so large? Her eyes focused on taking in every detail of their prison. It was very dark in the cave, illuminated in the distance by a single torch affixed to a gate on a tall bamboo fence. There had to be at least a hundred women in the pen with her. It would have taken days to acquire so many humans. A demon would not have the patience to collect that many spares. Not to mention, a normal demon would not bother to waste energy and resources feeding the spares for so many days.

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The miko shuddered, “I-I… do not think so. Normally, I can feel… something, when a person passes on. I have not experienced that feeling at all here.”

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Sango noticed that the woman had not looked directly at her. Her eyelids dropped down as she gazed towards the damp earth floor. Was she ashamed that she had a special ability? The huntress suddenly recalled how well villagers tolerated extraordinary people.

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The mother of four smiled warmly at the woman. “It's good you can do that. Can you sense anything else? Can you sense youkai auras?”

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Shoko met her gaze with stunned surprise, “Yes I can. Why do you ask?”

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Hope fluttered in the heart of the huntress before she had the chance to suppress it. Shifting her legs so that they were beneath her, Sango leaned forward to whisper in the miko's ear.

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“Can you differentiate the auras? Can you tell me how many youkai are near?”

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The young woman pursed her lips together and then licked them nervously. “Yes but they must be close… fifty or less paces away.”

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Sango could have shouted for joy but somehow managed to hold herself in check. “Good, good. Are you familiar with many of the women here?”

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The huntress bore the tone of one who was thinking quickly and eagerly; it grabbed Shoko's attention, “Yes, I know most of them… there is little else to do here except talk, pray, and keep everyone calm.”

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“…anyone from samurai clans or taijiya?” Sango found herself holding her breath as she anxiously waited for a response.

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The priestess did not disappoint. “Several, in fact… Why do you ask?”

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“That's great news.” Sango's tone began to sound more authoritative, “Lady Shoko, I want you to bring these women to me. Send them one or two at a time at most. We don't want to raise any suspicion.”

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The miko was stumped, “But… why?”

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In the half-light, Sango smiled. “I've got an idea.”

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-*-

“What the hell is up with this kid? His trail is all over the place!” Inu Yasha grumped as he sniffed at a bush where Kohaku's scent lingered.

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“How should I know?” Kagome shrugged. Even she could tell that the trail they had been following was a meandering one at best.

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“He better have a good reason…” Miroku grumbled as he rubbed the back of his bruised skull; as if to imply he meant his injury, as well.

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Trailing Kohaku had been a long, arduous process. There was no apparent rhyme or reason to his path but with no other lead to follow they were forced to ride the journey out. Days passed but the trail remained strong. Inu Yasha had to admit that Kohaku was smart enough to leave a strong scent to follow. The hunter certainly took a great risk by leaving such obvious signs of his presence. He chanced attacks by bandits or other demons; yet the woods seemed eerily peaceful the longer they traveled. As they moved the miko was often heard muttering that something “felt wrong.” Miroku concurred.

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In the end, Kohaku wound up finding them first. Seemingly out of nowhere, the hunter approached them when they stopped to make camp. He wore a hunting mask similar to the one his sister wore. The designs varied just slightly for differentiation. Miroku was upon him in an instant. The houshi was desperate for answers about his beloved wife. Inu Yasha was forced to pry the monk away from him. He muttered gruffly that it was obvious he had eaten little and the kid would be able to tell them a lot more when he had a chance to recover. Miroku begrudgingly let the young man go and Kagome hurriedly threw together a quick meal.

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Kohaku had been famished! He gobbled down his food greedily. In between bites he related his tale. The young man had followed an extremely difficult trail. Several times he had gotten the impression that the demonic caravan was purposely trying to lose anyone following them. There were indications that groups of demons had split off and joined up later with the main group while other times the caravan doubled back or circled around an area. Normally, that would have confused the scenting capabilities of hunting companions like Kirara. Fortunately, Kohaku was operating under the guidance of the very forest itself. Unfortunately, the forest was rather insistent on finding the disturbance so he had not had much time to eat or rest.

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Kohaku and Inu Yasha then spent several minutes trying to decipher why demons would try so hard to hide their tracks. The demons had been victorious in battle so there was no reason for them to behave so cautiously. By nature they were prideful creatures and, flush with the thrill of victory, they should have stormed through the forest. They would encourage hunters to find them when they were winning because their blood encouraged them to call forth challenge after challenge, growing bolder with each victory until they did eventually lose. However, there was no indication at all that they had needed to retreat after the attack on Edo. So, why then had they become so suddenly timid?

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When it was obvious the conundrum was leading them nowhere Miroku cleared his throat and waved his hand in an effort to spur his brother-in-law on with his story. It turned out that the reason Kohaku had approached them was that they were close to where he believed the demons were keeping their den. The monk insisted that they leave immediately. Inu Yasha agreed. The hanyou was never one to wait around for too long and it only encouraged him to see Miroku so fired up as well.

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Kagome and Kohaku were not quite so gung-ho. The two argued that they ought to scout the den a little before launching their attack. Anyone who had seen the attack had either been kidnapped or had not lived to tell about it, and both agreed they were missing information on their enemies that could prove costly in battle. Miroku continued to argue that they might be using up valuable time they might not have while they waited to form a strategy. Kohaku remained adamant that they needed to proceed with more caution than the usual demonic hunt. The debate became more heated between the monk and the houshi when Sango's name was brought up. Inu Yasha was getting ready to defend Miroku when he caught sight of his wife's face out of the corner of his eye. One worried look from Kagome was enough for the hanyou to think twice about charging in. The dog demon knew that he could not send his beloved back to the safety of her time period like before and it had made him much more concerned of the hidden dangers of the Sengoku Period. In the end, the miko and the hunter got their way.

-*-

Meanwhile, not far from the camp in the cave, Sango had used the next few days to learn several things about her captors. Shoko and Aiko had observed that roughly every week a large group of youkai appeared at the cave. Every other week the youkai brought new female captives to the caves. Noticeably, the backgrounds of the women were mostly the same. Everyone tended to come from small farming villages that happened to be fairly isolated from most major trade routes. Additionally, everyone was a woman, but not too elderly, nor too young. The youngest girl there was eleven years old and the eldest was forty. Sango could not be sure what exactly it meant but she was not willing to hang around long enough to find out because of the second habit of their youkai captors. Shoko had informed the huntress that on weeks the demons did not bring in women they came to take a handful of women away deeper into the caves. Aiko had informed her that the time the demons would return to collect some women was rapidly approaching and no one wanted to be around long enough to find out where they went. Thus, it was decided that they would make their escape attempt as soon as possible.

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They waited until breakfast had been brought. No one was particularly sure what day it was except for the way food was acquired. Three times a day a group of demons would come into the pen with bowls of rice and meat. There was a longer delay between one of these meals so it was assumed that this was likely “night time.” Hence, the next meal that followed this span of time was deemed “breakfast.”

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Daylight hours were considered to be the best time to escape. It might have seemed counter-intuitive (and there were certainly a number of women who objected) to try an escape attempt in broad daylight. However, with demons involved, escapes had to be planned differently. Sango explained that demons tended to be nocturnal creatures and they always had a keen sense of smell. They also had significantly better night-vision than humans had. A night escape meant that a human would likely stumble about in the dark, leaving their scent everywhere and becoming terribly lost and tired. Meanwhile, a demon could take their time hunting down. They would be most alert at night and could rely on their sense of smell to guide them to prey. That made the odds of recapture incredibly high. During daylight demons preferred to rest and build energy for night hunts. It made them slower and more prone to mistakes. Additionally, the humans could see where they were going which made it easier to spread out and split up. Sango could not promise that everyone would be able to escape, but all chances improved when youkai had too many trails to track.

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Of course, the huntress had made plans for the escaping women beyond simply running willy-nilly through the forest. The wives of samurai had been summoned for that very reason. Samurai families, unlike other ancient Japanese castes, were trained survivalists. The wives of samurai, in particular, had to know how to defend the family home while their husbands were away in the service of their masters. Samurai wives had to be leaders, defenders, fighters, and survivors all at once. Their natural knowledge made them ideal team leaders for the rest of the women. The women had been broken up into teams; each team would run in a particular cardinal direction when they were outside the cave. The samurai wives would head up each team to help lead them in the assigned direction. It was Sango's hope that one of these directions would take someone to a nearby village since no one knew exactly where they were or their proximity to any relative safety.

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At the moment Sango was finalizing escape plans with Shoko. There had been a slew of questions from nervous women that had been funneled one-at-a-time through each samurai wife team leader. It had been requested that Shoko say several prayers for a successful escape. However, the prayers might cause the youkai guards to become suspicious so the two women were trying to come up with a more-subtle version of the ritual. In the middle of their discussion Shoko suddenly froze. She closed her eyes and her brow wrinkled as she concentrated on sorting out the sudden surge of energy she had felt.

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When it passed, she locked her eyes on Sango. “Lady Sango, the youkai have returned!”

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The huntress had to fight the urge to panic knowing that the timing meant that the demons would be taking some of the women away. She hoped they would not take any of their precious samurai wives. The others needed them to help keep everybody safe! As if on cue, the gate to the pen burst open and youkai began shoving women backwards; away from the door. When everyone had been pushed far enough back the demons formed up in a line around the gateway. At the forefront, two of them stepped back to allow another figure to pass.

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Sango gaped when a man appeared. He was not anything like the other demons, though she was certain he was one. The man—well, really, just barely beyond a boy—was a head shorter than the other demons. His hay-colored hair was tied high in a white thong on the back of his head and long, straight bangs framed a pair of bloody red eyes. He scanned the room silently for several minutes. The air felt heavy with the feeling of fearful expectation from his captive audience. Oh gods, he's choosing! Sango cried inside her mind.

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The huntress badly wanted to look for her two girls; she wondered how they were faring on the far side of the cave. Shoko had wisely kept them separated from their mother, though she gave the girls messages from her as many times as she could. If the demons or the villagers knew that Sango had twin daughters it could have put them in a very dangerous situation. Thankfully, Yuriko and Kimiko were very understanding of the situation to the point that their mother marveled their level of maturity.

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The blonde man raised one of his hands slowly; palm facing the stalactites. Sango narrowed her eyes as she watched him curl his fingers until only his index finger remained extended. The hand turned over and began to swing in a long, leisurely arc across the terrified faces of the women. He's enjoying this. He's choosing…just to scare his victims, the creepy bastard! The huntress observed as a hint of a smile curled one corner of the man's carefully painted red lips.

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“Those two, over there,” He spoke quietly.

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Sango's stomach seemed to flip as she realized he was pointing right at Yuriko and Kimiko. Worse, she recognized the man's voice as the one who had whispered to her right before she had been knocked out. Selfishly, she hoped he meant some other girls.

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“…The ones that look the same; take those.” The man insisted and gave an impatient sigh when the demon at his side took far too long to respond to his command.

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Even from that distance and the dim light Sango could see her girls clasp their hands together for support. Her heart twisted painfully; they knew they were going to be taken away. The huntress squeezed her hands into fists against the damp earthen floor as she watched two demons lumber over to them and prod at them to get up with the butt-end of their long spears. The girls stood without a fight, their eyes downcast to the floor, still holding hands.

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The mother in Sango wanted to jump up and scream at the youkai to let them go. It took everything she had not to; but she knew she could not fight for them now. If she did she knew that it would only lead to her capture and if she were caught she could do nothing for them. Shoko had told her once that she could not sense that any of the women had been slaughtered so it meant the huntress likely had the opportunity to go retrieve them.

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Her lips formed a thin, grim line as she watched the demons shepherd her daughters and five other women out through the gate. Hang on girls, Mommy will save you, I promise. She thought as the gate swung shut behind the retreating forms.