InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Destiny's Bond ❯ Endings and Beginnings ( Chapter 2 )

I don't own Inu Yasha, Takehashi Rumiko does. Viz video marketed it, I watched it. That being said, I'm not making any money off this work, it's purely for enjoyment. Any character Takehashi-dono doesn't own I made up (Benjira, Tsukikawa, Konran and Youmei to name a few). Enjoy

 

Destiny's Bond

Ch1: Endings and beginnings

By

Lance the Flamesniper

 

Kouga walked through the valley with the rest of his pack as well as the survivors of Ayame's pack behind him. Kouga had found Ayame's pack in the midst of a battle with Naraku's latest creation: a giant creature that looked like a mix of scorpion, snake and bull youkai. By the time the smoke cleared the pack had been close to decimated. Among the casualties was Ayame.

Behind him marched the Ookami honor guards carrying their fallen comrades. Behind those were the now unified pack's wolves howling their sorrowful eulogy to their mistress. Kouga, however, was in a more reflective mood. Has it really been three years since I was here last?

The ookami prince nodded to himself. It had been three years. Three years almost to the day since the day he put his sire here and took the title of Lord of the Northern Lands. The thought further darkened his mood, but that matter was one he didn't have a choice in…

 

--Three years before the Shikon no tama is shattered---

“You can't be serious Benjira-sama!” The sixteen year old Kouga replied.

“You will obey me you insolent pup!” Benjira thundered. “You may be in charge of one of the best war packs, but you are not the Lord of the North nor are you the leader of the Great Pack!”

“Still Benjira-sama… Father,” Kouga continued. “This war is costing us warriors and territory! While we fight this pointless war with the Western Lord my war pack is busy fighting off other youkai who are taking our unprotected territory!”

“And once we defeat that idiot Sesshoumaru, we will have even more land, so the loss of little chunks does not concern me! I swear you are as weak as your mother!” Benjira snarled.

“I will not stand for the spilling of more of our pack's blood! The old Sire is right, you have gone mad!” Kouga said while getting into a combat stance.

Benjira turned and gave his son a grim smile, his hand coming to on the sword of the Great Pack: Shiryuu. “So it comes to this now pup? You think you can do better? Then come on! But you know the rules, boy: This one will be to the death.”

Kouga gritted his teeth. No going back now. Kouga charged forward at his normal speed lashing out with a series of quick kicks. Benjira deflected them all with ease before backhanding Kouga away. Kouga turned a lazy flip landing on his feet before charging forward again. This time unleashing a lightning-quick series of kicks.

He's gotten faster! “Is this all you have pup? Very well then get ready to die!” Benjira roared as he drew Shiryuu.

I've got no choice now, gotta pull my big trick out! Kouga's answer was to smirk as he disappeared into a tornado of speed that blasted past Benjira's guard. Kouga winced as he felt a warm wetness coat his hand. The wheezing sound his father's breaths had become sickened him. “Forgive me Father,” Kouga said sorrowfully.

Benjira's body slowly turned from flesh to merely bone as Kouga himself was surrounded by a corona a blue light and his world exploded in pain. When it passed he stood up and glanced into a nearby pool. Upon his brow was the blue diamond marking him as the new Northern Lord. Quickly he tied a fur bandana around his brow and picked up Shiryuu, quickly slipping it into belt of his fur kilt.

“Ginta! Hakkaku! Get in here!” Kouga bellowed.

“Yes Bo..Boss! What happened!?” Gina yelled.

“That doesn't matter. I'm in charge now, for better or worse. Send word to the war packs on the front on the border of Western Lands. They're to pull back from the war and resume their patrols. Now!”

“Y-yes boss!” Both lackeys muttered then turned to leave.

“Oh and have the leaders of the War pack come here. We will take Benjira's remains to the valley and bury him.

 

It was only a matter of time, Kouga reflected. Someone was going to do it eventually. Benjira was clearly mad. That didn't make what Kouga did seem any easier, but that didn't matter. Up until recently there had been a shaky peace between the Western Lands and the Northern Lands. At least until Mutt-face started acting up…

Kouga's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a flute being played. The notes themselves sounded like that of human music but there was enough variation to it that it sounded almost other worldly.

“Proceed with the burial I'll go see what that is!” Kouga replied as he took off in the direction of the music.

“What's he talking about?” Ginta asked. All the others shrugged. After all they hadn't heard anything.

 

Kouga followed the music through the catacombs of the Valley of the Wolves. He didn't know where it was coming from, but he certainly didn't like where it was leading him. It's coming from my father's tomb…

 

As Kouga entered the resting place of his father's remains the music stopped. The tomb itself was carved into the valley wall. The inside of the tomb was spartan in its appearance holding only a stone sarcophagus, a small table for offerings to the dead and a stone bench for either prayer or to sit on and talk depending on the person.

 

Currently sitting on the bench was a young human male, roughly sixteen seasons old, his hair was the color of sunlight and he was clad in a blue kimono tied with a black sash that also held the black hilted katana to his right hip. In one of his hands was a flute and his icy blue eyes had a mischievous, yet knowing sparkle and were currently matching the smirk on his lips.

 

“Who the hell are you?” Kouga growled.

 

“Who I am isn't important,” the man smiled. “Not really important at all when you think about it.”

 

“You got until I count to three to tell me...”Kouga began.

 

“I'm a friend, Prince Kouga, and I'm here to help you. More than that seems a little pointless don't you think?”

 

“Help me?” Kouga asked in confusion. “With what?”

 

“With your problem of course! Listen! When you go back to your pack's den, go through your father's things. Hidden among those things is something that is of great importance to you, and your pack.”

 

Kouga didn't know why, but he believed this strange human. “Very well I'll look.”

 

“Splendid!” the man cheered as he walked past Kouga into the hallway. “In that case, I'll be in touch.”

 

Kouga turned quickly and stepped back into the pathway, intending to stop then interrogate the human. To his surprise there was no one there. How very curious…

 

Kouga looked through the few items he had claimed from his father's belongings. There hadn't been much he'd wanted but it was still enough that, it took several hours after returning from the burial and the help of Ginta and Hakkaku to go through it all.

 

“Hey boss! What's this?” Hakkaku asked holding up a scroll case made of dark green jade.

 

“It's called a scroll case,” Kouga said, though he only knew that from seeing humans using them.

 

“What's a scroll case?” Ginta asked.

 

“It's a box that human's keep rolled up paper in. Usually the humans think that papers they put in them are pretty important. But why would Father have had one of those?” reflected Kouga. The wolf prince lifted the case and shook gently. “Hmm, seems there's something inside.” Kouga opened the case and blinked at the contents. The scroll inside looked fairly unimportant except for the fact that it looked like it was made of gold. Kouga carefully picked up the item and looked it over, going so far as to open the scroll. The words written on it unfortunately were kanji, which he didn't read.

 

“What's that boss?” Ginta asked.

 

“It's a scroll you moron!” Kouga responded. “It's something humans use to keep track of important ideas.”

 

“Why would they need to do that?” Hakkaku asked.

 

“How should I know,” Kouga answered, though truthfully he did know why they did such things. Human beings didn't live nearly as long as youkai and thus they wrote their important thoughts and legends down.

 

“What does it say boss?” Ginta inquired.

 

“I can't read kanji,” Answered Kouga. “And before you ask, kanji is what humans write in.”

 

“So what do we do with it?” Hakkaku asked.

 

“Maybe Kagome-oneechan will read it for you,” suggested Ginta.

 

“Is she here?” Kouga asked sarcastically.

 

“Well, no…” Ginta stated hesitantly.

 

“Then she can't read it for me, now can she?”

 

“N-no boss,” Ginta said dejectedly.

 

Kouga pondered the predicament in the hopes of finding a solution. “Seems to me I need to find a human to read this then,” Kouga decided before walking to the mouth of his cave.

 

Looking outside he noticed that it was raining, which in his mind seemed very fitting for the occasion. The rain's smell mixed with the smell of the pines and cedars around his home making for one of the most pleasant smells he could remember. It also helped clear his mind of clutter. What he needed his cleared mind intoned again, is someone who can read kanji.

 

Just as he was about to give up thinking about the scroll, he heard a voice in the forest. It was feminine voice that seemed to be singing, but for the life of him he could not make out what the words were, even with his sharp hearing. In curiosity he followed the voice. Not far from the wolf dens he found the source of the voice.

 

The woman stood in the clearing seemingly unaffected by the rain singing a song that sounded both sad yet also hopeful. Her hair was brown and her eyes were blue. She was dressed in a flowing white kimono. Tied to her hip with a white sash was a white hilted katana. As Kouga entered the clearing her song stopped.

 

“Ah finally you have decided to come, prince of the Ookami,” the woman said.

 

“You've been expecting me?” Kouga asked in surprise.

 

“Not exactly expecting,” She replied. “Anticipating is more like it. I believe you encountered a…friend of mine earlier.”

 

“Yes, I think I did,” Kouga said. To him this was getting pretty strange, but since meeting Kagome, strange was getting to be fairly normal. Thus he presented to her the scroll and added “He directed me to this. If you can, would you read this to me? He implied it was important to my tribe's future.”

 

The woman took the scroll her eyes flashing slightly. “Hmmm… there is a powerful magic on this scroll, wolf prince. Are you sure you want it read?”

 

Kouga thought about it. “Yes,” He said finally. “If there is a way to help save my clan on that paper, I must know of it.”

 

The woman nodded then opened the scroll. She didn't actually need to read the words on it; she knew the words as sure as if she had wrote them yesterday. She and Konran had worked hard on this matter after all. “This, Kouga of the Ookami youkai, lord of the Northern lands, is a marriage contract binding two souls to be joined in this and any lives that follow. One of these souls is yours.”

 

“And the other?” Kouga asked.

 

The woman smiled. No reason to make this that easy for him, and besides I can't let Konran have all the fun she thought before answering. “The other is one you found long ago but have misplaced over time. Look for her and you will find her. Do not despair though young wolf, with her your clan's future will be assured. Search your heart and truths you'll find. Search your past and your future find.” With that the woman handed the scroll back.

 

Kouga took back the scroll and started to pace while pondering the matter over. “So what did you mean by…” Kouga began to ask only to find the clearing empty of anything save him. That seemed to be happening a lot lately and frankly it was starting to worry him.

 

“People sure seem to come and go quickly lately,” the wolf prince grumbled. Then with a sigh he sat on the nearest rock to ponder this development.

 

Throughout her life it had always been there. It was a snarling, slightly angry voice in the corner of her mind that kept implying that something was wrong in her world. Most of her life it had been very easy to ignore; to push back into the shadows of her mind. But lately something had shifted. Every time she looked at one member of her group, no matter what he was up to she got angry at him. She couldn't understand it, not one bit. Then there were the dreams she'd been having. In those she was as she was now, with her friends around her then she changes, she can never remember how but she does. Then comes a voice that is familiar yet she can't ever remember it when she wakes up. “Come with me, it intones.”

 

She put some more sticks into the fire in the center of the hut then returned to her attempts to sort out her thoughts. It was going to be okay she reminded herself. Tomorrow they'd start their travels again. Maybe then she could sort out all that was going on inside her head.

 

Without another thought she laid down wrapped herself in some blankets and drifted into her troubled rest.

 

TBC