InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Delusions ❯ Chapter Seventeen ( Chapter 17 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Author’s Notes: Filler chapter.

 

 

 

 

Delusions

 

Chapter Seventeen

 

Rated - M (for suggestive adult themes, references to some violence, and coarse language)

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

 

 

 

 

Kagome was still enjoying the warmth of laying into Inuyasha while Miroku was away with Sango. The peace and quiet was suddenly disturbed when a mud-encrusted and seething silver-haired girl slammed open the screen door and stomped over to where she and Inuyasha sat.

 

Amaya boiled with anger and she stopped in front of Inuyasha who eyed her skeptically. “Good, you are still here.” She had not even looked at Kagome.

 

“You need to show me how to fight -- now!” she demanded.

 

Inuyasha merely crossed his arms. “What happened to you?”

 

“Nevermind that!” She planted both feet apart and clenched her fists by her side. “You said you would.” Now her eyes implored him to hold up his promise.

 

Kagome looked over at Inuyasha. ‘Oh he did? Did he?’ She supposed it couldn’t be helped.

 

“First light. I will show you a couple of things that should help to keep you out of trouble.” Inuyasha closed his eyes and nodded solemnly.

 

Amaya was still infuriated but this seemed to appease her and she turned on her heel and left, sliding the door closed, much more gently than when she entered.

 

“What was that all about,” Kagome asked. She did not know whether to be angry at Amaya for clearly leaving the room after she had been explicitly told not to, or to laugh at the filthy girl leveling demands at Inuyasha.

 

Inuyasha shrugged his shoulders. “If I had to guess, I’d say she got more acquainted with Sōrin.”

 

Confused, she asked, “What?”

 

He waved her off. “Don’t worry about it. She’s fine. I’m sure he went easy on her.”

 

Despite her urge to explain to Inuyasha that it was not “fine” for teenage girls to get into - whatever it was that she had gotten into - she thought better of it. “I suppose I’d better go pick up the pieces then.”

 

She moved to get up but Inuyasha caught her by the hand and pulled her back down into his lap. She gave a tiny gasp and looked up into his amber eyes. He leaned down and planted a small kiss on her waiting lips. Just as soon as the kiss began, it ended. Still, it was enough to send her heart beating at a mile a minute. Inuyasha released his hold on her and she slowly got up, smiling at him as she did. Reluctantly, she let go of his hand and she left the room.

 

Kagome quietly entered the room that she shared with Amaya and Sango. She saw that Amaya had removed her dirty clothes and was asleep on her futon. She had only made ready to go to sleep herself when Sango entered the room. Kagome put a finger to her lips and pointed to the sleeping form of Amaya. Sango nodded and quietly prepared for sleep as well.

 

 

 

 

The next day, Kagome was awakened by Amaya fumbling around the room trying to get dressed. The girl’s clothing from the present was dirty and tattered from her excursion the night before but she did her best to smooth it out so she could make it out to Inuyasha, who had promised to teach her some battle techniques.

 

Kagome watched as she crossed the room and slid open the door to the hall. Rather than step out she paused and bent down. She closed the door and carried a bundle into the room. From what Kagome could see, it was garments wrapped with twine and a note on top.

 

Amaya stopped to read the note, crumbling it when she was done and threw it against a wall. She held the clothes up in front of her as if trying to decide whether or not to throw them as well. With an angry sigh she undid the twine and dressed in the new clothes. Amaya now sported a red hakama and sode-kukuri, with a white hakui, a red hakama, and zori to complete the look. Once she had finished dressing, she looked down at herself and gave a small twirl. She stopped, seemingly self-conscious of her girlish behavior, and quietly fled the room. She hadn’t noticed that Kagome was awake the entire time.

 

‘I wonder where…’ she let the thought trail and got up to face the day as well. Sango had already left the room prior to her wakening, apparently, so she did not have to worry about waking her. Kagome looked around for the crumpled note and found it in the corner of the room. She retrieved it and smoothed out the wrinkles to make it legible. “Maybe you’d be less clumsy if you did not dress like an idiot. - S,” it read.

 

A laugh escaped her. ‘So, it was Sōrin that she got into it with last night. Hmm.’ The note, itself, was contemptuous at best, but the gesture behind it was somewhat sweet. Kagome still had mixed feelings about Sōrin. On one hand, he had been raised by Inuyasha who seemed to trust him, but on the other hand, he was an offshoot of Naraku and possibly a disaster waiting to happen. She also didn’t know how to feel about him giving attention to her daughter, no matter how innocent the attention was. Maybe that was why Miroku and Sango found it so easy to keep their distance now, because they didn’t know what the outcome would be for him.

 

Leaving the note and grabbing her things, she went out in search of everyone else. Miroku was most likely taking care of the bill, but the others were probably congregated outside of the inn. She went out and looked around to see if they were in sight. Rather than seeing them, she could hear loud crashes coming from the wooded area away from the inn. She headed in that direction.

 

Kagome knew that Inuyasha was going to be showing Amaya a few moves, but she really was not prepared for what was in store. A determined Amaya stood next to Inuyasha who was diligently trying to instruct her on some move or the other. He held up a clawed hand and mimicked a swiping motion. Amaya nodded, her eyes drawn in concentration. Sōrin stood several feet away, leaning against a tree and watching the session. Sango was not present out here, so Kagome figured she must have taken the opportunity to go into town before they left.

 

They were standing in front of an un-felled tree, its neighbor several feet away from them had been obliterated by a single blow as an example to Amaya. “You have to focus your energy into your claws, otherwise you are just smacking it. Maybe you can uproot it with sheer strength, but that’s not what we’re aiming for here,” Inuyasha demonstrated again by smacking the tree without channeling his yoki into his claws and the deep-rooted tree only reverberated and shook the branches. “See?”

 

Amaya continued to nod, “Alright, I think I got it. Let me try.” She stepped up to the tree and Inuyasha took a step away to give her room. She held her hand up, claws out and stood in front of the tree. Standing there for a few seconds, possibly trying to convince herself that every bone in her hand would not shatter if she hit the tree with all of her might, she finally arced her claws down in a sweeping motion towards the tree.

 

Everyone waited in silence for the blow, but nothing happened aside from the tree quivering. Amaya, with her arm still outstretched, stood still and her eyes widened. Her face contorted and she brought her hand to her and cradled it. “Ow!” she yelped.

 

Sōrin laughed from where he stood and Inuyasha shot him a withering glance that shut him up. Amaya’s cheeks reddened from embarrassment and she quickly dropped her hand and studied the ground.

 

“Does he have to be here?” Amaya growled in consternation.

Kagome could feel for her daughter and she wanted to say something comforting but she decided to let Inuyasha handle the situation. She’d done all of the parenting throughout the years after all.

 

“It’s OK,” Inuyasha said. “Try again. This time,” he grabbed Amaya by the shoulders and positioned her back in front of the tree, “I want you to get angry. Focus your anger on the tree. If it helps, imagine that the tree is Sōrin’s head.”

 

Amaya stifled a giggle and Kagome could see Sōrin grimace from where he stood. Inuyasha went on to explain how using her anger could help Amaya to unlock her yoki, but Kagome knew that anger wouldn’t be enough. When she and Inuyasha had first met, he used his anger and arrogance to battle his enemies. It was not until he had someone to protect - and inevitably love - that he unlocked his true potential. ‘Baby steps,’ Kagome thought to herself.

 

Kagome heard footsteps approach and looked over her shoulder to see Sango approach. She was in full slayer garb, had Hiraikotsu strapped on, and was also carrying some other things. She seemed intrigued by what was taking place here on the edge of the woods. “Trying to give the girl some pointers, I see,” Sango observed.

 

Kagome smiled, “Yeah. Crash course.” She turned her head back to watch the pair in front of her.

 

Sango nudged Kagome’s shoulder and Kagome glanced to see a bow. Sango had the bow in one hand and a quiver of arrows in the other. “It’s not much, I know. I had to exterminate a minor yokai to get it, but it was quick work. I thought you may want to get used to it again.”

 

It was a kind gesture and Kagome appreciated it. She accepted the gift, “Thank you, Sango. I don’t know how to repay you.”

 

Sango smiled in acknowledgement, “No need. Though, you may want to fire off a few to get the feel for it again.”

 

“Right. Hopefully it’s like riding a bike!” she said shouldering the quiver of arrows. Sango’s eyebrow shot up questioningly and Kagome picked up on her confusion, “Oh, that metal thing I brought back to ride? With two wheels.” Sango still did not really understand the notion, but did remember the contraption that Kagome would bring with her sometimes.

 

Miroku finally joined the rest of the group and went to stand by Sango, who now watched as Inuyasha demonstrated again on a tree. Kagome waved to him and walked away to try and get off a couple of shots with her new bow and arrows. She felt unsteady with the weapon. It was somewhat of an older weapon, worn from use, but it had been well kept and the bowstring was new, so that was a plus. She chose a target in the distance, and since there were plenty of trees a large pine with an obvious knot near the base became it. She lowered the quiver of arrows and eyed her new arrows. These were a hodge-podge of older and new arrows. The fletching was different on the older arrows and indicated more wear, like the bow. Deciding to pick one at random, she re-shouldered the quiver and pulled an arrow. She nocked the arrow, drew the bowstring, and paused to focus on her target. She inhaled and with her exhale she released. She heard a satisfying “thunk” and new that she had at least hit a tree. She walked over to retrieve her arrow and found that, while she had not hit it in the center like she intended, she at least hit the knot which was the size of a man’s fist. She pulled the arrow free and moved back to take more shots while she had the time to practice.

 

After emptying her quiver a couple of times, Kagome felt satisfied with her ability. ‘As long as I am not called to make any precise shots, I should be alright,’ she figured. She moved back over to where Inuyasha was still trying to instruct Amaya, but was having no luck. He was beginning to look really frustrated but he was holding back which seemed to amuse the rest of the onlookers who knew the hanyo to be anything but patient.

 

He was having a difficult time helping her to trigger her anger. It was comical to watch but it also made Kagome sad as well. She knew that Inuyasha had grown up alone and unwanted, so anger was a go-to emotion for him. He couldn’t really fathom the simplistic and happy childhood that Amaya had because he had not experienced it. Not even second hand.

 

It was evident that Amaya was getting frustrated as well, but rather than get angry, she was getting embarrassed. She was trying so hard to try and please Inuyasha but she was failing. Kagome knew that things normally came easily to the girl, but this is something foreign to her that she was trying to embrace. Something that her mother had hidden from her and now Kagome lamented that she had stolen a piece of Amaya’s identity from her and the girl was struggling to get it back. It just seemed that no matter what she did, she could not escape from that one life-changing situation sixteen years ago that kept playing out for her in unexpected and harrowing ways.

 

Everyone looked on with pity as Amaya tried and failed to emulate her father’s ability. Maybe she couldn’t channel her yoki because Inuyasha’s bloodline had been diluted? Kagome was about to intervene until Sōrin spoke up. “Guess this is just another thing you fail at!” he yelled.

 

Sōrin still leaned lazily against a tree but he had a sordid smile on his face. He had one leg propped up against the tree and his arms were crossed. He looked every bit of a jerk to Kagome and her eyes flashed with anger. ‘How dare that little punk--’ she thought before her inner musings were interrupted.

 

Inuyasha also shot an annoyed glance at Sōrin and Kagome hoped that he would go over and teach him some manners, but instead Amaya’s cheeks reddened and she yelled at the boy, “Shaddap!”

 

This small outburst earned some raised eyebrows from everyone but Amaya - who was unaware of Inuyasha’s armament of verbal lashings that included the usage of the word she had just uttered - who shot daggers at Sōrin with her eyes. None of this seemed to perturb Sōrin as he continued to throw insults at Amaya, “Must have just been beginners luck then last night, eh? We shouldn’t expect much from some prissy little girl who just happens to be some offshoot bastard.”

 

Jaws dropped and Inuyasha finally intervened, “Dammit, Sōrin! You’re not helping but you sure as hell are pissing me off!” He had stepped in front of Amaya to yell at Sōrin and could not see how she fumed. Kagome had inadvertently noticed that Sōrin’s ministrations were, in fact, working. She wanted more than anything to go over to where he stood and smack him around but she restrained herself in hopes that whatever stunt that Sōrin was trying to pull would work.

 

Kagome had rarely seen her daughter quite so angry. Things normally came easy to her and she was usually optimistic. That is not to say that she never became angry, which she did as any normal person is prone to do from time to time, but Amaya had never had any real reason to harbor anger. Now Amaya stood with both hands clenched at her sides, her silver hair blowing in the gentle morning breeze. Her eyes, which had been drawn down into a scowl, now widened into a stoic look of calm with only a small indentation in between her eyebrows as any indication to her anger. Aside from the clenched fists, of course.

 

Then, unexpectedly, Amaya unclenched her fists and coolly brushed past Inuyasha and walked over to Sōrin, who watched with a bemused grin. He still leaned against a tree and made no move to evade Amaya’s steady approach. Once she stood in front of him, she raised her hand and calmly glanced at it for a second before returning her gaze to him. Then, without warning, she took her hand and struck the tree with lightening speed mere inches from where Sōrin’s head rested. She turned on her heel and went back to stand by where she had left Inuyasha. The tree and everyone around stood silent and then, as if finally registering the damage, the top of the tree slid from its base smoothly onto the ground with a loud rumbling crash.

 

 

 

 

Next time on Delusions……

 

….Sōrin had not moved an inch. The bemused grin was still plastered onto his face and his eyes had not even widened a fraction despite the fact that had Amaya’s aim been off he would be missing his scalp. It was almost as if her reaction was his intention. ‘Was it?’ Kagome wondered. Dangerous to antagonize someone who could easily kill you. Especially when that person had no idea of their own strength….