InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Destinies Collide ❯ ACTUAL CHAPTER!!! ( Chapter 23 )

 

Oh my goodness… it's been, like… what? A year, since I've updated this story? I am really sorry about that. I've been really, really busy. Well, here is the next chapter. Actually, I really wanted to put some action in this chapter before I posted it, but I figured that I've made you guys suffer long enough without an update that the action can wait till the next chapter. This should be a rather long chapter; according to Microsoft Word it is 19 pages long. Also, forgive any misspellings, I have sent this to my editor, but she is as busy as I am and has yet to send me back an edited version, but I've decided not to postpone posting this any longer.

 

PLEASE REVIEW, they make all the difference in the world!! So, without further ado, on with the story…

 

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Destinies Collide

 

Chapter 23: Things are starting to take a turn…

 

 

 

“Is he awake yet?” came a quiet female voice that was speaking just above a whisper.

 

“I can't tell. Remember she was knocked pretty hard, and since he is connected with her, he'll be knocked out till she comes around.”

 

“I know that.”

 

A loud grunt vibrated around the vast darkness. InuYasha tore his eyes open. Darkness greeted him and he let loose a terrible roar. Grunting again, he tried to sit up, but it was no use. `Stupid monks with their stupid magical binds.' Sighing, he let his head fall back upon a hard surface, which puzzled him. Hadn't he been in his bed?

 

“Are you awake?” asked a male voice.

 

“Not you again,” InuYasha said under his breath.

 

“Yes, it's us again. Look, your time grows thin. You must complete your mission,” the female cut in.

 

“Oh sure, just give me one moment to break through these stupid binds of Miroku's and I'll go skipping through the country side looking for her,” InuYasha stated sarcastically.

 

“That's funny! See, didn't I tell you that he was funny when he was younger? Da…” a loud slap vibrated around in the darkness.

 

“Shut up you idiot! Don't you want this mission to succeed? If so, then keep quiet,” the female voice commanded.

 

InuYasha had heard the entire thing. The male voice's words circled around and around in his head. For a brief moment, he entertained the notion that these voices were somehow related to him, but he quickly threw that thought out of his head. Besides, he figured that Sesshomaru wouldn't be able to stand more than one kid at a time. That thought made him smirk.

 

“He's enjoying this! Just look at his face,” the male voice commented.

 

“So, you two are Sesshomaru's unborn pups? Figures! Now tell me why you're helping me… better yet, tell me how you know about me in the first place?”

 

“You think we're whose…” started the male voice.

 

“You are obviously mistaken! We are no one's unborn pup's, much less Sesshomaru's!”

 

“But…”

 

A loud slap vibrated around in the darkness once again. The sound from the slap died down after a few seconds, and InuYasha could just barely make out the sounds of whispering, but couldn't understand what they were saying. The whispering stopped for a moment as the female spoke up again.

 

“There is no time for you to be sitting around doing nothing. You have things to do. I suggest you start by finding your angel…”

 

“She's been hurt… if you haven't already figured that out.”

 

“Keh! You think that I don't know what's going on here? My angel is hurt? Yes, I know that, she's been hit in the back and the left side. She seems to be in a safe place for the moment, so I have nothing to fear.”

 

“You? But how did you… I don't understand!” the male voice stated.

 

“He truly is connected to her. Don't you see? He's the only one that can change the inevitable.”

 

“That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard! How can anyone change the inevitable? Is that even possible?”

 

“It is possible, but you have to know what you are looking for. You are the only one who can break the spells placed on her. You alone have the power to break the curse…”

 

“But sister, he's just a pathetic excuse of a man. How is he supposed to help mo… I mean his angel? He can't even break a simple priest spell placed upon him.”

 

“You call this a simple priest spell? I dare you to try to break this thing. The monk you are talking about happens to be one of the most powerful priests in all of Japan. I can't move, let alone break this thing.”

 

“Again you are not giving yourself enough credit. We've spent too much time here, thus we must go. However, I'll give you one last piece of advice, the object you need cannot be found easily. He hid it in a particularly tough location. To find it you must unlock the riddle and you must do so in a hurry. Time is running out.”

 

“What are you talking about? What thing do I need? Who hid it in a tough location? What riddle… are you talking about that stupid riddle my old man left? That thing makes no sense! How am I supposed to figure it out?”

 

Silence greeted him and he growled out in anger. A sharp pain rang out in his head before the darkness swallowed him whole.

 

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Tears spilled down her dirty face and fell silently to the ground. She was hunched over as far as her chains would allow, hugging her legs for dear life. He had come back and had punished her brutally. She knew he wanted to break her spirit, but at the moment she could care less. Her mate was nowhere to be found and all attempts to communicate with him had failed.

 

Her tormentor had left her chamber a few hours prior, but she was still feeling the ill effects of his ministrations. She knew what he had done, as he hadn't drugged her this time. He had wanted her to feel him as he did unspeakable acts to her. She had tried to scream, tried to tell him no, but he silenced her every attempt. In the end, she ended up giving up and let him have his way.

 

He had entered the room, whip in hand, and poised to beat the life out of her if she did not obey. She allowed him to pull her flush with the floor, but that's where the beatings began. She knew that he only wanted to see her cry, to see her in pain, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction. He finally stopped after a few minutes. With an evil smirk planted across his face he shed his pants and in the next instant he had spread her legs and entered her without so much as a blink. It had been a sickening feeling to feel him inside of her, but again she refused to show any sign that this was affecting her.

 

Over the course of the next couple of hours, he had his way with her over and over again. Finally he grew tired, she supposed, and left her alone to contemplate this new turn of events. She could no longer feel her mate, her beloved, so she knew that her captor had severed all ties she ever held with her mate. She sighed again and leaned back against the wall. How could she have been so stupid? Why did she let herself become the mate of a man who didn't even care about her? She knew this last question was crazy, for her mate did care about her, but what would he think of her now? Would he turn her away because she gave herself so willingly to her captor? She guessed that he would undoubtedly do just that. For this was all her fault, and she truly felt that she should die for committing such acts.

 

The tears started up again, much heavier this time. They slid over her cheeks and splashed down on her arms that were crossed over the top of her bent up knees. She leaned back into her legs as she allowed the pain to overtake her body. Soft sobs met with the tears, but the only sounds in the room were when she sniffled. She remained like that for hours afterward.

 

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The day had been a pleasant one, well, one of the more pleasant days she had ever had in her entire life. The old lady, Kaede as she had come to find out earlier that morning, and herself had spent the day picking herbs in the forest and attending to the old woman's vegetable garden. Kaede made them both a light lunch, and then they spend the afternoon practicing archery. It had been a surprise to find out that Kaede had once been an archery teacher at one of the more prestigious schools in all the land, and it was even more peculiar since Kaede didn't seem to have an ounce of demon blood flowing within her veins. The only thing Kagome could reason was that Kaede had somehow gotten a master that allowed her to do whatever she wished, but this still made Kagome more than a little wary.

 

The sun had quickly disappeared from the sky. Kagome had been sad to see it go, knowing that the next day she would need to say her good byes and head into the mountains. She didn't need Kouga finding her and dragging her back to that disgusting cave of his. Currently she sat at the dinning room table watching Kaede buzz around the kitchen like a bee searching for honey. It was so strange to see an old woman work so hard to please her guest, but she figured that the woman never received guests since she lived so far away from the city.

 

After dinner, the pair had retired to their separate rooms for the night. Kagome lay on her stomach upon the bed. She sighed, her side and back still hurt from the day before, but it wasn't as uncomfortable as it had been earlier that day. Now it was just a slight stabbing pain whenever she put to much pressure on certain still tender areas. She sighed again as she shifted her head to lay to the right. For some odd reason she felt unreasonably tired tonight. She couldn't explain why though, she hadn't done anything to warrant the sleepiness today. All together the day had been a rather relaxing one. The only extenuating exercise she had done today had been the archery practice, but even then she hadn't over worked her body.

 

In truth she believed that the day had gone perfectly well, maybe it had been to perfect. A wave of dizziness swept through her body, but before she had a chance to think on the matter, her body succumbed to the darkness.

 

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The room was pitch blank and silence prevailed in the darkness. If it weren't for the sound of shifting clothes, one would think the room was barren of all forms of life. A soft sigh rang out in the darkness quickly followed, once again, by the deafening silence.

 

“Do you think…?” Sango started, but stopped abruptly, shaking her head in the process.

 

They had been sitting there for hours, thinking about the riddle and trying to piece it together, but they hadn't gotten very far. Actually, they hadn't been able to come up with anything concrete and it was beginning to wear on the both of them.

 

“Let's start from the beginning. We know it's a weapon…”

 

“Save it, we've been over this a thousand times and going over it again will only make me want to scream,” Sango declared.

 

They had adjourned to the room a few hours before hand, when it had become apparent that InuYasha wasn't waking up any time soon. InuYasha's mother had insisted that she would come get them when he awoke, so they left to get some food and see if they could make sense of the stupid riddle InuYasha's father had left behind. Miroku had left InuYasha bound, as it was his mother's wish that he would be unable to hurt anyone much less himself. So here they sat, bathed in total darkness, trying to connect pieces to a puzzle that didn't seem to want to go together.

 

“It's a sword,” Miroku declared into the darkness.

 

“A sword? How can you be so sure?”

 

“Well, I've been brooding over this one line for the last couple of hours. The line reads:Hold me to the left I will rust, along with everyone else. Well, the only thing that I can think of that will rust and that would be useful to both brother's would be a sword.”

 

“I guess that makes sense, but it could be a dagger or something similar.”

 

“True, but I figure that the King wouldn't give his sons a dagger and tell them to protect their mates with it. It just doesn't seem plausible. Could you see the King giving InuYasha and Sesshomaru, say a kitchen knife, and telling them to train to use them as deadly weapons? I think that both brothers would have thought their father was crazy.”

 

“I see your point.”

 

“Besides, the Queen did say that these objects are valuable.”

 

“She didn't say that, she just said that both brothers' would need to use, whatever it was that their father had left them, to protect their families.”

 

“Ah, but my dear Sango, you do not read between the lines. When she said that, she was meaning that whatever lay hidden would be valuable to both brothers. They might not be worth anything, but if they help to protect their families, then they would be valuable in their own right.”

 

“What makes you think there is more than one of these objects? I never once heard the Queen announce that we would be looking for multiple items.”

 

“I do say that I am unsure as to why I know this, but I feel that there is more than one item that we will have to uncover.”

 

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Thin rays of moonlight shone down through the small sprinkle of clouds that dusted the darkened sky. There was a full moon tonight. It was a perfect time of year, a time when the heat of the summer was winding down and cooling off to make way for the frigid winter. A light breeze swept though the branches of the trees surrounding the palace.

 

He sat there, staring off into the distance. He didn't know how long he'd been sitting there, and quite frankly, he didn't care. Thoughts plagued his mind, torturing it with all the possibilities that his numerous unanswered questions provided. The thought that he was unable to come up with any type of solution to his problem also wore on his fragile nerves. Kagome…. He had to get her away from that idiotic wolf demon. He just didn't know how to go about it.

 

A flicker of light shone somewhere off to his right, but it went unnoticed by the troubled King. He just kept staring at some distance pitch black spot deep in the forest. His back ached from his hunched over position, but he didn't care. There were more important things on his mind than his own health. The flicker of light grew for a moment before dieing back down. It was nights like tonight that made him wish to get away from it all, to just run away and never come back.

Who had hurt his angel? How had he even known about her injuries? Had the wolf hurt her? His head hurt just thinking about that sick bastard. If Kouga had injured Kagome in such a fashion, then InuYasha would see to it that Kouga died a slow painful death for causing Kagome such pain. It would make him happy to see the wimpy wolf die by his own hands. He only hoped that he could get to the idiot before someone else decided to kill him.

 

A flash of light blinded him for a moment making him turn his attention to his right. Through the trees he could barely make out a small flicker of light shining from between the huge barks and tree limbs. This puzzled him. As far as he knew, all occupants of the castle were sound asleep. Taking a quick glance up at the moon, he guessed it was around midnight or shortly there after. Turning his attention back to the strange light in the forest, he rose from his seat as he decided to investigate.

 

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A slight breeze rustled the trees in the surrounding forest. The moonlight shone down through the trees casting the area in an unearthly hue. A dark figure rushed through the trees, stopping every once in a while to take a sniff before jetting off again in a hurried pace. The figure came to a stop again in a small clearing that was filled with tall grass. The figure moved slowly through the weeds, upon reaching the middle of the clearing, the figure dropped to the ground, disappearing from sight.

 

“Hey, Kouga! Wait up!”

 

The figure rose again in an annoyed manner, turning his attention to the direction in which he had just come. Another figure emerged through the trees moments later and stopped, panting hard. Kouga turned back around and raised his nose up to take another sniff of the area.

 

“Her scent is weak, but we should still be able to follow her trail,” Kouga stated before he began walking off.

 

The other figure walked into the grass and took deep breath. Kagome's scent was still there all right. No one could mistake the smell of her blood.

 

“Hey Kouga, the battle didn't take place any where near here, did it?”

 

Kouga didn't even pause as he tossed over his shoulder, “No where near. Why?”

 

The other man took a step forward before taking another deep breath. There was no mistaking it; that was Kagome's blood that he smelled.

 

“Is it just me, or do you smell Kagome's blood surrounding this area?”

 

Kouga paused. He took a deep breath. He hadn't noticed the smell before; he had been too intent on locating his missing mate-to-be that he hadn't even stopped to think that she could be hurt.

 

“Damn it,” Kouga cussed under his breath. “Did you get anything out of Ginta?”

 

The other man looked at Kouga in surprise. Kouga had all but ordered the rest of the pack to kill Ginta when he had returned earlier that evening to find his beloved Kagome missing. Kouga knew that Ginta had been behind the disappearance. After ranting and raving for a few minutes, Kouga had taken off in search of his obsession leaving nothing but a whirlwind to signify his departure.

 

Hakaku shook his head. “Nothing… All he would tell me is that she needed to get away. He said something about destiny, and that her destiny was not meant to include you.”

 

“Destiny? Ha, that's a good one.”

 

“…Maybe he's right, maybe there is something else planned for her.”

 

Kouga spun around at his words. “What? Are you on his side now? How would you like to share his fate?” Kouga pinned Hakaku with a deadly stare.

 

Hakaku gulped and took a step back. “I didn't say that I was on his side. I just think… shouldn't we be looking for Kagome?”

 

“Don't try to weasel your way out of this. You're not getting off that easy.”

“Look Kouga, I swear to you that I do not condone Ginta's actions. It was never my intention to make you think that. However, I am worried about Mrs. Kagome and if we don't hurry, she may be in grave danger.”

 

Kouga didn't look like he wanted to end the conversation, but the thought of Kagome being hurt seemed to bring him out of his reprieve and before Hakaku knew it, Kouga was racing through the woods once again. Hakaku stood there a second longer, and shook his head before he too raced after his leader.

 

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The house was pitch black and silent; the only sounds permeating the stillness were those of insects and the occasional distant howl of wolves. A figure bathed in darkness moved quietly through the darkened hallways, only pausing upon reaching the last door on the left hand side of the hall. The figure stood there listening for a few seconds before laying a hand upon the door knob to the room and twisting, testing to see if the young visitor trusted the kind old lady whom allowed her to stay there. The door was unlocked and the figure smiled to herself, she would never understand why young people seemed to trust older people so much.

 

The door creaked as the figure pushed it open, but the figure didn't seem to mind one bit. Opening the door partially, the figure stuck her head in to survey the guest's room. Her eyes immediately landed on the young guest resting quietly in the bed and another smile lit up the older woman's face. The figure then slipped out of the room as quickly as she had come, closing the door behind her. As she made her way back down the hallway, a soft knock came at the front door making her smile grow instantly larger. Darting to the front of the house as quick as her legs could carry her, she just barely avoided tripping over the coffee table before making it to the door and opening it just as another dull knock sounded from its surface.

 

Pulling the door open, the older woman stared at the two visitors with slight apprehension and mischief before gliding away from the door allowing both shadows to enter the house freely. Not one word was spoken in pleasantries; there was no need, as the older woman knew who the two visitors were and what they had come to do.

 

“Where is she?” a woman asked in a bored and slightly unimpressed voice. This was the taller of the two late night visitors. She stood off to the side leaning against the wall, arms crossed over her chest in a silent show of defiance.

 

“Down the hall, last door on the left,” came the older woman's soft almost silent voice.

 

“Huh… you do remember the plan, right?”

 

“That I do.”

 

“Great, then make yourself comfortable. Unfortunately, Kanna has first dibs on the girl, and then we can do our thing.”

 

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The light grew more intense as he followed it, but he had yet to locate its source. One thing puzzled him more than anything else, who could be so deep in the forest so late at night? Dodging a low hanging branch at the last minute, he finally spotted the object he had been tracking for the last few minutes. Coming around the trunk of an extraordinarily large tree, he stepped into a clearing. At the center of the clearing burned a small fire that had him wondering how he had even seen it from the gardens of the main house.

 

One figure was hunched over toward the fire, sitting on the balls of his feet, his black hair floating behind him in the wind, back away from the new comer. Another figure stood near by, leaning against the bark of a huge tree, arms crossed over his chest, glowing red eyes staring at the young king from across the clearing and silver hair flailing in the wind. InuYasha just stood there on the edge of the clearing taking in everything in front of him. Somehow these two figures seemed familiar, but he wasn't sure why.

 

“You can join us. It won't kill you,” the figure closest to the fire stated without shifting his position.

 

InuYasha was wary of the situation, so he remained where he was, his gaze constantly shifting between the two men. A deep sigh resonated from the figure hunched close to the fire before he spoke once again.

 

“It won't hurt you to come over here and hear us out…”

 

“Save it, he's just a worthless half breed. Why would he want to listen to us?” the other figure suddenly spat out in a half growl.

 

“Tell me you aren't starting that again? Didn't we just finish that conversation?”

 

“Keh! Just look at him, will ya? He's staring at us like we're strangers or something.”

 

“Technically speaking we are strangers to him…”

 

“Like hell we are…”

 

“Who the hell are you and what are you doing on private lands?” InuYasha yelled into the clearing when it became apparent that the two men were starting a verbal fight between themselves.

 

A sickening laughter erupted from the man leaning against the tree and InuYasha just stared at him puzzled. He hadn't said anything funny, had he? The man in front of the fire tilted back a bit before shaking his head in the direction of the man with the red eyes.

 

“Excuse him, he has a sick sense of humor,” the black haired man stated as he arose from his position and turned in the direction of InuYasha.

 

The first thing InuYasha noticed about this other man was that he reminded him of himself on the night of the new moon. It was like looking straight into a mirror. The man's hair was the same length as InuYasha's, and the man's deep brown eyes were reminiscing of InuYasha's own eyes the night his demon blood recedes leaving his human blood to reign for the night. It was a scary sight.

 

“Have you figured it out yet half breed?” the red eye man asked apparently calmed down after his laughing fit.

 

“Give him time, will you? It will come to him, but right now we have more important things to discuss.”

 

“Hump, you always take the fun away.”

 

The black haired man did not reply, instead he rolled his eyes before returning his attention back to InuYasha.

 

“What do you want with me?” InuYasha asked.

 

The black haired man took a deep breath before responding. “There are some things you need to know, things that no one else can tell you aside from us. You may not like what we are about to divulge to you, but you must hear it. It may just save your life one day.”

 

“Who are you? Tell me before I call the guards to escort you off my property.”

 

“Ha, I'd like to see you try…” the red eye man snorted.

 

“Dem, what did I tell you? Let me handle this, you're not helping!”

 

“Yeah, I can tell that you're handling this. Why don't you let me do this my way, hum?” The red eyed man had moved away from the tree, cracking his knuckles as he stalked in InuYasha's direction.

 

The black haired man spun around at his companion's words, pinning the other man with an intense stare. “There will be no blood shed tonight. Got it?”

 

The other man stopped in his tracks while simultaneously issuing a rather impressive growl. “You are such a pussy!” The two men stared at each other for a couple of seconds before Dem, the red eyed man, backed off. “Fine, have it your way, but if he so much as blinks wrong I'll be on him faster than your human reflexes can justify.” With that the red eyed man moved back to his previous position leaning against the tree.

 

The black haired man turned back toward InuYasha after studying the red eyed man for a few seconds, making sure the other man would stay put this time. As the black haired man's eyes settled onto InuYasha's an uneasy tenseness settled into InuYasha's heart. Something was wrong, he could feel it, but he couldn't pin point where the feeling was coming from.

 

“Now we can get back to business…” the black hair man broke off as a wave of pain raced through his veins, his arms instantly wrapped around his stomach, but his eyes remained plastered to a confused looking InuYasha.

 

Pain ripped through his being, but somehow he remained standing and calm. His gaze shifted from the black haired man to the man he now knew as Dem, whose red eyes now glowed more intensely. Running his eyes down Dem's body, InuYasha noticed that the other mans hands were no longer crossed in front of his chest, instead they hung down by his sides, his hands hidden behind his back, but InuYasha knew that the man's claws were embedded in the tree bark behind him.

 

“Don't tell me you don't feel this?” Dem stared across the clearing at InuYasha barely holding on to what little control he had left. InuYasha just stared back in complete confusion. “Of all the fucking… See! I told you! The half breed is not worthy of her. I can't believe we are wasting our time on him!” Dem growled out.

 

“Would you shut up? He's not immune to pain, and if you think he is then you are an idiot! She's bound to him, not us, and the reason we can feel it is because we are also bound to him.”

 

“That is the biggest lie I've ever heard! She's bound to me! It was I who marked…”

 

A loud growl erupted in the clearing making the two fighting men turn their attention to its source. InuYasha had stepped more into the clearing, his eyes now glowing a deep dark red, a snarl lifting the left side of his lips revealing an elongated fang. The black haired man took a step back while Dem simply grinned in pleasure.

 

“She is mine. No one, and I mean no one will touch her while I'm alive,” InuYasha's growl was aimed specifically at Dem, but the other demon just looked on in amusement.

 

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“Well, she certainly traveled through this area, but it was a long time ago,” Hakaku stated as Kouga resisted the sudden urge to pound him into the ground.

 

Taking another long sniff of the air, Kouga finally caught a smell that seemed elusive when they first entered the small clearing beside a brook. The smell was widely dispersed making it that much more difficult to discern its origin. It also didn't help that the smell of the brook acted as a cleansing agent effectively erasing the traces of most of the smells in the area; however a few scents did remain. It was evident that two deer had visited this very spot not more than three hours prior to Kouga and Hakaku finding it, along with a lone rabbit, but it was not these smells that had Kouga snarling.

 

Hidden deep within the slight shifts that the wind made through the trees, a scent lingered tightly entwined with the more familiar and soothing scent of Kagome. This other scent was what currently held Kouga's complete attention. The wolf demon could pick up nothing from this scent and it bothered him. Every creature gives off a scent, and this particular scent gave a clue as to what other creatures should do. If a creatures scent was spicy, other creatures would know to stay away from the area for it was a sign that the creature wanted time alone with their mate, if the scent was duller it signified that the creature was dieing, but if the scent was sour, like a lemon mixed with a tablespoon of pepper, then it was a sign of impending danger signaling every creature to get away as soon as possible.

 

Kouga took another long whiff of Kagome's scent mixed with the unrecognizable scent of whoever had been traveling with her. This was beginning to bother him as he couldn't understand why a being's scent would not give away anything much less what type of creature it is. He couldn't even discern whether it was a male or female scent which made him angry, but he refrained from showing it.

 

“She wasn't alone… Kouga, do you smell that other scent? It's weird… kind of dull and almost translucent as if someone was trying very hard to keep it a secret,” Hakaku stated as he knelt down to examine a print in the sand that looked suspiciously like a human foot print, but was slightly distorted which made it look more like a bear print.

 

Kouga refrained from speaking; instead he hopped over the brook landing gracefully on the opposite bank. For some reason he felt vulnerable, it was as if this being was trying to mislead him, to lead him in another direction, and that's when it hit him, that's exactly what was going on. How could he be so stupid? How had he allowed this phantom being to lead him off the trail? He cursed under his breath as he turned back toward Hakaku noticing the other man had traveled a little ways down the bank of the brook looking intently at the ground. The thought briefly entered Kouga's head that sometimes Hakaku showed his wolf traits a little too much, but Kouga shook that thought off, Hakaku was a full blooded wolf demon after all, so it was only natural for him to act like one. Before Kouga could ask Hakaku what he was doing, said man jumped up from his spot beside the river and twisted in Kouga's direction.

 

“It's a set up! She was never here.” Hakaku jogged back to his original spot to stand directly in front of Kouga. “Look at this,” Hakaku pointed to a print in the sand on the bank of the river, “at first appearance this looks like a bear print, however upon closer inspection it becomes rather clear that it a weak attempt at a human foot print. Now, if you follow the prints down the bank,” he raised his head and turned in the direction he had just come from, swinging his arm around as he did so that it now pointed down the river, “it starts to look like actual footprints. The only problem is that whoever devised this little trick forgot that humans have two legs. There are only one set of prints headed down the bank.”

 

“To make it appear as if she were partially walking in the water…” Kouga finished Hakaku's thought.

 

“Exactly… so… what should we do now?”

 

Kouga thought about that for a few seconds before answering. “Our best bet would be to return to the last spot where we are certain that she had been.”

 

“But wouldn't that be the clearing with the tall grass where we first smelled her blood?”

 

“… Yeah…”

 

“But that's…”

 

“It's where we must go to find any clues that we missed. There's bound to be something there that we failed to locate the first time. So, we go back and do a thorough search of the area, making sure we cover every last inch until we find the answers we seek.”

 

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“So… where do we start looking? The riddle isn't exactly overflowing with information.”

 

“That's the only thing I have yet to figure out. I think that the first two lines of the riddle have something to do with where to find the objects, but I'm not too sure of what the lines mean.”

 

They hadn't moved much in the last couple of hours that they had been sitting there in deep concentration. Darkness still prevailed in the room, no moonlight penetrated through the thick curtains that lined the only window that adorned the back wall of the room. The castle had been extremely quiet all night so far, and the Queen had yet to interrupt their musings, so it was apparent that InuYasha had yet to awaken.

 

“The conscientious spirit will search the soils on lands far and high, the adept spirit will search the soil in the realms of the two lands separated by a thin line of light,” Sango read the two passages aloud. “Well, I can definitely say that these objects are not in the castle.”

 

“Yeah… InuYasha and Sesshomaru figured that out when they tore the house apart looking for their father's gift.”

 

“Well, you never know, he could have hidden it in some dark corner of the castle, or something.”

 

“What… like an underground cavern, secret passageway, or hidden room?”

 

“It is said that some castles have secret rooms, passageways and the like, so why not here?”

 

“I guess… But where would the King have hidden such a place?”

 

“There's only one way to find out…”

 

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He sat there, bathed in darkness staring off into space. He didn't know how long he had been there, but it didn't matter. Time seemed to be creeping by, not that he noticed. His thoughts were too wound up with his current situation. He still could find no explanation for his recent loss of control. He hadn't known what had hit him, one minute he was just fine as he sat at his desk looking over a stack of papers related to a merger that one of his companies would be involved with in the coming months, the next minute he was doubled over, arms wrapped securely around his stomach.

 

His body had been on fire, from the tips of his toes to the top of his head. Everything tingled with a fierce burning sensation that only seemed to get worse the longer he sat there allowing it to continue. The fire left his body slowly, draining from his limbs leaving an uneasy nervousness in its wake. By the time the fire had receded, the family doctor and a hand full of nurses had descended upon his office, but he did not allow them to touch him. He would be fine, he knew he would, it would only be a matter of time.

 

When Sesshomaru arose from his chair the doctor moved to help him, but the older prince just growled his disapproval making the doctor back off slightly. Sesshomaru took three steps before he lost all control of his body, falling face first onto the floor. He's not quite sure what happened after that, although he slightly remembered being consumed by darkness. It was a couple of hours later that he awoke finding himself still lying on the floor of his office, the doctor and nurses were long gone and he could only wonder why they decided to leave him there.

 

For the first time in his life he was scared. Whatever had come over his body had done so without his knowledge, without his approval, and he didn't like it one bit. What scared him more was that it could attack him again and he had no way to stop it. He briefly thought that it had something to do with his lost mate, but he shook that off, it couldn't be as easy as that. The more he thought about the incident, the angrier he became, even to the point where red was seeping into his eyes. That's when his thoughts turned to his mate.

 

He had berated himself over and over again about his actions where his mate was concerned. He had been the one to initiate the mating ritual, and he was the only one to blame for loosing his control when his mate entered her first heat cycle after their initial mating. He had known that mating Rin during her heat cycle, so early into their relationship, was an unwise decision, but he had allowed his demon blood to reign in his veins, to tell him that she needed him to subdue the heat, to impregnate her. He had been stupid, he knew that now, but at the time the only thing he could think of were the demon mating rules. Screw those rules anyway!

 

There are certain laws that were written to keep demons in line, or to thoroughly mess up their lives depending on how you look at it. These laws vary in topics from family relations to death rituals, and every detail was supposed to be followed in exact order without leaving any steps out. Now just like any rules, there are some laws that were made to be broken and others that were not meant to be followed to the letter. However the rules that applied to the mating ritual were to be followed very closely as they were the laws that carried the highest penalty if disobeyed, the loss of your mate. The rules were not hard, but they did involve things that should be well thought out by the male before acted upon. This was where he messed up. He did not think about the consequences before he acted, and now he's stuck with a missing mate.

 

All mating rules were tailored to the male, as the males were to be the main influence, or the rulers, in the relationship. The first law involved the female accepting the male as their mate, to allow the mating process to precede the female had to acknowledge the male as her mate-to-be. Sesshomaru doubted that his approach to gaining Rin's acceptance had been orthodox, and had no doubt that if his father had found out he would have had more than just a tanned hide to show for his arrogance. The next step involved actually marking the female by placing the males family crest on some visible part of the females body, and only then could the actual mating take place to seal the mating mark, making the mark more permanent, however the process was far from over and the mark was still considered temporary.

 

Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, the next step involved the female conceiving her mate's child. He believed that this was where everything went wrong. When Rin had entered her first heat cycle after they had become mates, he had taken matters into his own hands and locked her in his room until her heat had subsided. He realized now that he had gone about the situation completely wrong, but there was nothing he could do about it now. He didn't let her leave his room for four or five days, he wasn't sure how long it was exactly, but it didn't really matter. At the time, the only thing on his mind had been to satisfy his hunger for her and to make her heat subside. He knew that he could have kept away from her, forced his demon blood to retreat as he had done numerous times before, but he let her scent go to his head and did the only thing he could think to do at the time.

 

Looking at the demon mating laws, he did was he was supposed to do, but given that Rin is still just a teenager, he supposed that he should have restrained himself better. No matter how many times he tried to convince himself that he was nothing like his father, his mind fought back telling him that he was exactly like dear old dad. He hung his head as he admitted that to himself, not that he would tell anyone else. He couldn't change the past, but he sure could make up for it.

 

He had let Rin down. He was supposed to protect her, it was his responsibility to keep her from harms way. He wasn't sure why he had allowed that idiot to take her, and now he knew he was powerless to stop whatever that mad man was doing to his precious mate. He sighed as he slumped back in his chair. Right now he felt helpless to help her. He couldn't find her; all his efforts were for nothing. He couldn't believe that the bastard was hiding Rin from him. He had even scouted the country side looking for her, and came up empty handed. How could he expect anyone to find her when he couldn't even find her himself? He had one of the best noses in the western hemisphere; the only person that bested him had been his father and the hand full of dogs that his father kept as pets, even though Sesshomaru doubted that those particular dogs had as sensitive a nose as he did.

 

The only thing that he could think of was getting Rin back, and then he could make up for everything that he had done wrong. He was even going to suggest that she issue him some sort of punishment for his actions. At this point, he would do anything just to make her happy. He shook his head roughly trying to release these thoughts from his mind. He had to focus. He had to get Rin back first, and then he could figure out what to do from there.

 

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“Heh, finally got up the nerve to show your true self, half breed? It's about time you got angry!” Dem stated.

 

“What did you do to Kagome?” InuYasha demanded.

 

“Me? Why nothing yet. However I will not hesitate to make her mine if you don't do it soon.”

 

“You will not touch her!” InuYasha growled.

 

“Enough!” the black haired man shouted making two sets of glowing red eyes turn in his direction.

 

“Heh, you think I'm going to quit now, just when this is getting good? Think again human.”

 

“He doesn't know who we are, and I'd like to keep it that way.” The black haired man turned towards Dem and pinned him with an angry stare, but it didn't seem to bother the other man.

 

“Why is it such a secret anyways?”

 

“That's not the point…”

 

“Whatever...”

 

“Who are you people?” InuYasha demanded.

 

“You mean to say that neither of us looks familiar to you?” the black haired man asked and when he was greeted by InuYasha's blank stare he continued, “Well, I don't think it's really necessary…”

 

“Hey, InuYasha, you know what happens on the night of the new moon, right?” When InuYasha shook his head Dem continued, “Well then, take a good look at the human over there and tell me if he looks familiar to you.”

 

InuYasha was confused to say the least. How could these two possibly know about the night of the new moon, the weakest time of the month for him? It just wasn't possible; he had kept that a secret from everyone except his parents and Miroku. Unless that monk was playing pranks on him again, which was possible as the guy got some kind of sick pleasure out of torturing him.

 

At InuYasha's puzzled stare the black haired man turned back to Dem. “See, I told you, now stay out of this.”

 

Dem just ignored his comment. “He is your human side, don't you see it? Doesn't he look familiar? Tell me you can see the resemblance?” Dem probed all the while pointing at the black haired man, but looking directly at InuYasha.

 

“Enough!” InuYasha growled. “He can't possibly be my human side. It's not practical,” he stated while glancing at the two men, and then he swiftly turned around, his hair swaying behind him in the wind, “Miroku, I swear that I will kill you for this. You hear me monk?” he yelled off into the forest.

 

Dem and the black haired man stared at each other for a moment before Dem decided to speak once more. “Miroku had no part in this. The human is your human side whether you like it or not. I am your demon side, the side that you have yet to show, and the side that will give anything to protect your intended. You can call me Dem, which is short for demon if you haven't figured that out, and you can call him Hum, short for Human.”

 

InuYasha stayed facing away from them. It just wasn't possible. How could he come face to face with both sides of his makeup, his blood? It had to be a dream, which was the only explanation for this unnatural occurrence. He really couldn't remember why he had decided to venture off into the woods in the first place… oh wait, the fire… well, how had he ended up outside the castle when the last thing he remembered was being bound by another one of Miroku's obnoxious binding spells? So maybe this was a dream after all? Maybe he had messed up so bad that both sides of his blood decided that it was time to confront him? Maybe he should listen to what they have to say? If he listened, it didn't mean that he had to believe them, after all this entire scene was down right crazy to begin with.

 

Finally making a conscious decision, InuYasha slowly turned toward the two men. “Alright… why have you brought me here?”

 

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