InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Forest Embrace ❯ Changing Forms ( Chapter 2 )

A/N: OMG! I'm sooo sorry, I completely forgot this chapter! Many are probably wondering what happened to the dog and why Inuyasha is in Human form. >< My fault.

 

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“That's it, just keep sleeping little one, you're safe here.” Kikyou crooned to the thin dog lying on her straw cot. The room was small, but nice. A small cot with a heavy woolen blanket she made herself, candlelight filled the whole room with warmth and the sweat apple honey tea simmering on the stove not one room away filled the entire house with sweat spicy smells.

“Aww, sister your lovely sheets are all bloody now.” Her little sister Kaede observed. She was a small child of seven summers with waist length ebony hair and a smile that lit the room like a candelabra.

“It isn't the first time Kaede.” Kikyou said, remembering the first time her sister came to wake her up during her monthly. The frienghtened look of shock when they explained what it was and assured her that her sister wasn't dieing.

“He's so cute!” Kaede squealed.

“Shhhh, you don't want him waking up and getting agitated. He's in a strange place and he's injured.”

“Ok, Kaede clasped her hands in front of her to keep her from reaching out and petting the little white dog. His fur was so soft; the hunters would have loved to have him for new lining in their winter coats.

Kikyou kept speaking softly to the dog, she believed that if he got used to the voice, even in his dreams, it might calm him down some when he wakes up.

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Dawn…when the golden rays of the sun crest the hilltops and chase away the morning dew. Nocturnal animals scurry to their homes and deer come out from their dens to search for food in the morning light, but no, not this mourning. Heavy storm clouds hung in the air, threatening the valley with yet another winter storm, as though this were winters last standoff before spring's inevitable victory. Whether because of winters own crushing defeat, or the battle just hours before, a sense of dread hung in the air. The animals and people breathed it in, coating their souls with the heavy feel of submission.

Burying the dead had taken up the last of the wolves' strength, both physically and emotionally. All anyone wanted to do was go to sleep, Kouga and the other pups had caught some rabbits while the others buried their kin, they didn't need to experience that just yet. With a little meat in their bellies they all trudged up the mountain, Kouga dug himself a hole into the snow and curled up resting his tail and feet by his nose to keep them warm. Ginta and Hakaku curled up together not far, but not as close as they used to. When they would all sleep together, snuggled up like when they were younger, but Sesshoumaru understood. He didn't really want any company either. Inuyasha was gone….the alpha male was gone…many of their kin had died. Thinking space….that's what he needed.

Slowly he went into his cave…alpha male, him….at least until the human threat was gone, and then others would challenge him, if they weren't scared of him. Kouga would no doubt become the next alpha male; he didn't have to worry about that, but…his brother….
No, he had to think of the packs future, protect the pack, protect his new family…that's what he had to do.

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His body hurt, like last season during the avalanche, when he had been buried in the snow. And just like that time Kouga's soft warm hand just kept petting him, his voice assuring him.

“Don't worry, you're safe.” Kouga repeated those words over and over…

Slowly Inuyasha regained consciousness; there was something odd about where he was at… no smell of wolves, of the forest and the snow; honey…that was the smell, Honey and apples and...something different.

Opening his eyes he gazed startled at the walls of a room. He was lying on a straw cot, a blanket covering him. He tried to stand, but a jolting pain shot through his chest and he slumped back down.

“Whoa, hey don't move.” There was someone here! Startled he turned his sharp eyes on the room again, growling low and threateningly at the figure who stood in the doorway. It was a woman…half grown, the gown she wore smelled faintly of lamb, her long ebony hair plaited back away from her face. Dark almond shaped eyes stared wearily at him, she looked tired…out of breath…

“Calm down little one, I'm not going to hurt you.” It was that voice…the same velvety voice Kouga used when he was recovering from being buried in snow, only with a feminine tone. “Settle down.” She whispered again, moving a step closer at every word, her arms outstretched. He snarled, baring his fangs and snapping at the air but she just kept at it. “Don't play tough, you don't even have the strength to stand right now.”

“Leave me be!” He snarled, but of course she couldn't understand him. It was getting harder and harder to see. Darkness collected at the end of his vision, like a sunset on the inside of his eyes. He couldn't stand this…

Inuyasha slumped back down, totally exhausted. Slowly, cautiously, Kikyou approached his crumbled form. Was it just her or was his fur thinning? Inuyasha's paws grew larger, more outstretched, his claws retreating, the fur on the back of his head seamed to grow, to darken, his muzzle shrank, his hind legs extending back. Soon she was staring, not at a snowy white dog, but at a boy lying on her cot, covered if fur, his midnight black hair cascading down the side, curling slightly on the floor.

“What the—”

“Kikyou?” She heard her father call her.

“Daddy!” She ran to him, eager to tell him of what happened, and then realized the consequence of such a thing. Her father was usually understanding, but if she told him an injured dog just changed into a man in fur he was sure to make a religious deal of it. Either the boy would be shone around like a miracle, or killed like a demon.

“What is it daughter?” her father, a sweet elderly man with the kind of face a preacher should have, not like many preachers who had those narrowed eyes and accusing glares, he had the same almond shaped eyes that the boys so loved about her, high cheekbones that grew real rosy on cold days like this, giving him a blushing look of innocence. His thinning hair was combed back and held in place by a strip of hide at the base of his neck.

“I found an injured boy near the forest. He looks like he was shot, I need your help.” She lied slightly, but she was sure the lord would forgiver….she hoped.

“Well,” her father rushed to her room, “Let's have a look at him.”