InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ BROTHERS' WAR ❯ TRANNING ( Chapter 3 )

TRAINNING

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this fanfic. I only think up the possible background to those characters from the series, which was not created by me! Hope you enjoy my thoughts of what could have been. Enjoy!

Recap: Inu Yasha was pinned down to a tree because of an arrow that held his cloth pressed against the tree. The mysterious girl walked away from Inu Yasha to continue collecting herbs and flowers for her village. She finally released Inu Yasha because she realized that anyone with a dove following him couldn't be all that bad. Once he returned to his resting ground, he noticed that Sesshomaru was not around. Finally he fell asleep, all the while thinking about the mystery girl.

Father:

"GET UP! INU YASHA! … You cannot be sleeping all day! It is time to begin our training."

The sun had just peeked out from the distant horizon; the sky was a dark blue with a mix of a reddish hue. The morning dew lay upon the surrounding grass, leaves, and trees. Inu Yasha lay in his sleeping covered in the dew. Upon awakening from his slumber, Inu Yasha slowly rose up and took a look around.

Inu Yasha:

*Wow! This is an amazing site to behold. The sun is just rising; the ground is covered in the morning dew; and the air is silent. If only Mother could be here with me now! She would love this even more than I do!*

Inu Yasha took off his shirt and flicked it in order to get the morning dew off. Then he just brushed his pants off to relieve them of the dew too. Once completing this, Inu Yasha noticed that Sesshomaru was no where in sight again! Before he could go and investigate his brother's whereabouts, his father interrupted him.

Father:

"Where are you going? Now that you are finally awake we must begin your training sessions. We have lost valuable time already!"

Inu Yasha:

"But father! I was going to go look for Sesshomaru. I did not see him yesterday night … um … after I was awoken in the middle of the night and today too I do not see him! I am curious as to where he might have gone! What if he's in some trouble?! You did say that this land is filled with demons and there must be some fierce ones around!"

Father:

"Inu Yasha! Calm down. Your brother can take care of himself! You do not need to concern yourself about his welfare. He knows how to use his demonic powers and he is always learning new skills. Some even I did not know about! So you need not worry. Just concentrate all of your time and energy on YOUR training! … Now we will begin your training. First, you must go and get ten buckets of water. And you must collect then in these buckets, one at a time!"

Inu Yasha looked in awe as his father held a bucket that was a metre in diameter and 5 feet deep! To Inu Yasha just carrying the empty bucket alone would be a challenge, let alone carrying it with water rimming at the top!

Inu Yasha:

"You can't be expecting me to carry that monster bucket! That's impossible! I can't even lift that! Father! How can I complete my first task if I can't even begin it?! This is ridiculous! I can't …"

Father:
"ENOUGH! YOU MUST HAVE THIS TASK DONE BY NIGHTFALL! YOU SHALL RECEIVE NO RATIONS UNTIL YOU COMPLETE YOUR TASK! I am taking leave now Inu Yasha. I am not your baby sitter so you better start learning to take care of yourself! There are demons here that would rival me and attempt to get me when my back is turned to them and I am certain that they would not hesitate to destroy you to get to me! So no matter what happens, do not trust anyone you may meet on your journey to complete your task!"

With that, his father swiftly flew away from him, leaving Inu Yasha standing there staring into the sky above.

Slowly, Inu Yasha approached the buckets lying on the ground 2 feet from him. He was contemplating on a method that would allow for him to carry or kick or roll or throw the buckets down to the riverbed a few miles away.

Inu Yasha:

*What is father thinking! I cannot lift this! I can't even go home until I learn to use my demon powers! What can I do? … Maybe I could roll the buckets down to the river one by one but then how would I bring them back? I can't roll them back, and even if I somehow could, the water would spill out! This is an impossible task!

Frustrated from the task at hand, Inu Yasha kicks a bucket, which flies down the dirt path towards the river. Inu Yasha runs after the rolling bucket, since there is nothing else he can do.

Inu Yasha:

"STOP!!! I command you to stop you stupid bucket! HALT!!! All I want to do is learn to use my demon powers so I can go back home to my mother! Not do these meaningless tasks! Get back here!"

Of course the bucket cannot stop on command; it is not a magical bucket. Inu Yasha keeps hollering after the rolling bucket, which is now gaining momentum and consequently, increasing its velocity. After a couple of minutes, 3 minutes of running and hollering to be exact, the bucket hits the water and Inu Yasha stumbles over the suddenly stopped bucket and catapults over the bucket and lands face-first onto the sand on the other side of the 3 metre wide river.

After a few seconds of lying in the sand, Inu Yasha hears a familiar voice; one that sends a tingle down his spine.

Girl:

"What are ye doing here? And, why are ye just lying in the sand like that?"

Inu Yasha hops to his feet, pretending as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Inu Yasha:

"Me? I was doing nothing … just … just taking a quick nap … yea … that's all, was just taking a nap. Anyways, what are you doing here? You said you weren't a demon right? Then what are you? A goddess? You can't be a human!"

Girl:

"And why not? Why can't I be a human?"

Inu Yasha:

"Well, only a goddess could look as beautiful as you do, at least without using a spell. Plus, my father told me that no human has set their eyes upon this land! So that means that you cannot be a human girl. See, I am a smart one eh?"

The girl starts laughing mildly.

Girl:

"Well for yer information, I AM a human girl and thank ye for the compliment Inu Yasha." - The girl blushes slightly - "I would never compare myself to the likeness of any god or goddess. Well I am curious as to what ye are doing chasing a bucket down the hill?"

Inu Yasha:

"Huh?! … - Inu Yasha now blushes deeply! - I … I … um … I am just … trying … to … oh why am I telling you this? It doesn't concern you! So I am just going to go and try to finish what I have to do! Now, how am I going to get across the river? Hmmm …"

While Inu Yasha started to contemplate his situation, the girl started to leave. She climbed into her little boat and started to leave the shore when Inu Yasha suddenly noticed.

Inu Yasha:

"HEY! WAIT! Where are you going? I need to get to the other side and you can be the one to take me there!"

Girl:

"Well I thought that ye don't need my help! If ye want my help then ye must tell me what ye be doing with the bucket!"

Inu Yasha:

*Damn! I don't have any other choice. Father said that I need to complete this task or else no food for me! Man! I'm stuck in the middle of a rock and a hard place! Guess there is really no harm in letting this girl help me to the other side, anyways it's faster to cross the river in her boat rather than walking all the way around!*

"Fine! I will let you know what I am doing with the bucket, if you help me get to the other side!"

The girl rows back to the shore where Inu Yasha is standing and upon reaching the shore, Inu Yasha jumps into the boat. Once in, he relaxes and stretches out his arms and legs and prepares to take a short break, after all the running and falling. But the girl had other things in mind.

Girl:

"What do ye think yer doing? Ye think ye going to just ride in my boat and not do anything? - The girl throws Inu Yasha one ore - Ye can make yerself useful Inu Yasha."

Inu Yasha:

"WHAT?! You want me to … I should … I can't … you … fine! (Mumbles under his breath) Stupid girl! Can't even be useful enough to row me across the river! Wants ME to row too! Bah!"

Girl:

"What did ye say?! Do ye want to walk around the river? Is that what ye want?"

Inu Yasha:

"No! No! That's not what I want! I said I'll row so what is with this line of questioning?"

The two stop talking and start rowing. The girl smiles and giggles softly while watching Inu Yasha row in his temperate state. All through the 5 minute boat ride neither Inu Yasha nor the girl, say another word. Once on the other shore, both step out of the boat. As soon as the girl had secured the boat to a nearby tree, she walked up to Inu Yasha and placed a hand on his shoulder. Startled, Inu Yasha jumps and turns around to face the girl. After a few moments of silence and staring, the girl finally gets Inu Yasha to tell her about the purpose of this large bucket that started this conversation this day. Once the girl had a grasp of the situation at hand, she told Inu Yasha that she will help him to accomplish this mediocre task, but he must help her with something when the time comes. At first too proud to accept help, Inu Yasha refuses her.

Inu Yasha:

"What can you possibly do to help me?! You're just a human! You can't do anything to help me!"

Girl:

"Well then Inu Yasha, I will be sitting under the shade of the trees if ye change yer mind. I know of a method that will make this task move by quickly."

Inu Yasha:

"Ya sure, what ever you say!"

*Stupid girl! Thinks she can figure out how to do this faster than me, a half-demon, can! I'll show her!*

After a few seconds of surveying his surroundings, Inu Yasha finally conjures a plan to complete his task at hand. He runs to a few nearby trees, cuts them down, and then cuts out small pieces of wood that he uses to form a raft like contraption. One Inu Yasha places the wood pieces in the proper places; he cuts off some of his slivery hair and binds the pieces together. Then he fills the bucket with water and attempts to place it onto the raft. Unfortunately, that was as far as Inu Yasha had planned and once the bucket was filled, it was impossible to be moved by hand, at least for him. He tried to lift it but just heard his back crack. Then he tried to shove the raft under the bucket but this was unachievable since he could only tilt the bucket a little bit using both hands. After hours of trying, Inu Yasha finally asks the girl to reveal her idea on how to complete the task. The girl explains to Inu Yasha that he had started it off on his own already but all he needed were wheels to pull the bucket up the hill. Inu Yasha ran to another group of trees and cut out small cylindrical pieces. Then he came back and the girl placed each wheel at the side of the raft and stuck an arrow throw holes in the centre of the wheels, which Inu Yasha cut out. Once the wheels were locked in place, the girl told Inu Yasha to bring a long plank of wood and a large stone, so that they can use some leverage to lift the filled bucket. They placed the stone on one side of the bucket. Then Inu Yasha tilted the bucket, from the side the stone was on, and the girl slipped the plank under. Slowly both worked together to tilt the bucket and slide the raft-wagon under. After 40 minutes, the filled bucket was finally resting on the raft-wagon. Now was the part where they had to get the bucket up the hill! The girl got Inu Yasha to bring the boat they used to cross the river, onto the shore, so that she can use the rope that bound the boat to the tree as a harness. Inu Yasha, once placing the boat on shore, grabbed a piece of wood that was wider than longer and placed it on the back of the raft-wagon, once cutting small grooves to hold it in place.

Now the sun had risen to the middle of the sky and the heat had become greatly increased. Inu Yasha and the girl had filled and placed 3 buckets back at the resting grounds. Now there were only 7 to go! Inu Yasha's stomach was rumbling louder than anything else around and the girl suggested that both of them take a break.

Inu Yasha:

"But father told me that I would not get any food until I complete this task! I don't have anything here for me to eat! And I need to have this done by the time my father returns!"

Girl:

- Giggles softly - "Ye can have some of my food and we need not stop the transfer of empty buckets to full buckets! I will sit on yer shoulders while ye are pulling the buckets up the hill and while we go, I will feed yer. That way we eat and complete the task!"

Inu Yasha:

"Hmmm … Fine! I guess there is nothing else I can do!"

With that, they completed the task all the while eating their lunch. Once done, both were exhausted and the sun had already gone down. The moon was a-glow in the night-sky.

Girl:
"Inu Yasha, it is time for me to be heading back to my village. I enjoyed spending the day helping yer. It was amusing and entertaining."

Inu Yasha:
"Well I am the one who did most of the work! But it was fun! I enjoyed spending time with you too. Do you have to be heading back to your village so soon?"

Girl:

- Blushes slightly - "Ay. That I must."

The girl gets up and starts walking away, down the path again. Inu Yasha rises up and runs up to her and grabs her hands. He stares into her eyes, the moonlight shimmering off of the two.

Inu Yasha:

"When can I meet you again?!"

Girl:

- Shocked and happy - "When the fates decide that it is time. Until then, ye will be in my heart. I think I love ye Inu Yasha."

Inu Yasha:

"I think I love you too! But I don't even know your name! Can you let me know that at the least?"

Girl:

- Smiles an angelic smile - "When ye can answer this question, I will reveal to ye my name. What's always howling, but never here; Always soaring, but never clear; Can bring ye close, yet keep ye afar; Make ye glad, or give ye a scar; The one thing that ye cannot skew? When ye have an answer for this question, Inu Yasha, I will reveal ye my name. Until then …"

The girl starts walking back to the boat with Inu Yasha following suite. He helps her place the boat into the water and watches with watery eyes as she sails away.

Inu Yasha:

*I will answer your question. No matter how long it takes, I will find out your name.*

Once the girl was out of sight, Inu Yasha walks back to his resting ground to find his father standing near a fire, with a couple of boars roasting. Inu Yasha approaches him slowly sits by his side.

Father:

"I see that you have completed your first task, Inu Yasha! I am proud of you!"

This brought Inu Yasha out of his contemplation of the question's possible answers and back into reality. He saw something in his father's eyes that he had never seen before, least not when his mother was nowhere in sight, a spark of true happiness.

Father:

"Even Sesshomaru did not complete this task in one day! There is greatness in you Inu Yasha! You have the ability to harness the powers of demons while keeping a beacon of humanity within yourself. If you can do your trainings like this then you should be able to see your mother very soon! I know it is hard for you to live without her in your life right now, but I am certain that in a few days time you will be able to travel there and back with no problems, all on your own. Now eat and then sleep, for tomorrow is your next training and it will not be as easy as today! It will take you at least a couple of days to complete."

Inu Yasha and his father both eat and then go off to bed. Inu Yasha noticed that Sesshomaru was nowhere in sight again. Slowly he drifted off to sleep.

Man! Where is Sesshomaru?! He seems to be gone in every chapter except the first. Well I'll try to get him into the story more often, but hey! It's my first fanfic series so please bear along. I would like to know what you think so far so let me know if I should continue to write this one or not. And who do you think the mystery girl should be? Plus, what do YOU think the answer to the riddle is? Let me know. And those in the mood for a laugh check out The Security Squad by the Ookami Tsusumu; I'm one of them, lol. Peace! Next: QUARREL