InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Forgotten ❯ The Calm before the Storm ( Chapter 13 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or Inuyasha or anyone from the hit Anime/Manga series Inuyasha. Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all OC's in this story.

 

Chapter Thirteen: The Calm before the Storm

 

179 years Before the Search for the Jewel Shards

 

My failure to kill Sagara allowed for so much to go wrong. Never before had a devil thought to use the evils of the world to benefit his cause. Never had anyone considered his willingness to involve what he saw as inferior people in his conflict. But Sagara turned out to be the very worse the yin could throw at us. I guess this sorry end was the inevitable conclusion of a war at its peak.

-Sesshomaru

 

“You think he's ready?” the elderly priestess asked the old hanyou. The old woman was round and bent with age; her gray hair tied back at the base of her skull. She glanced at the subject of their conversation who listened to a ten-year-old trainee chatter about her first day at the temple. The young man was a dog hanyou. Hip-length snowy hair was bound in a high ponytail. Red and gold bands around his wrists, neck and ankles marked him as a tenko in training. The short, sleeveless, red kimono and hakama hid nothing of his lean but muscular body. A very handsome specimen by anyone's standards. The child, however, was too young to appreciate it. The priestess thought about telling the girl not to bother the young man but the old hanyou just shook his head at her.

 

“Don't worry about him. He can silence her without offending the girl with just a few words if he wants to. I think the girl is benefiting from his attention,” he said and smiled. Kakiboufuu, thanks to his demon blood, had weathered the passage of time better. He remained lean, upright and still able to do a credible amount of damage to any foolish enough to challenge him despite nearly being a thousand-years-old.

 

“You didn't answer my question,” she said. “Do you think your student is ready to have the training braces removed?”

 

He sighed and folded his arms across his chest; his hands vanishing into the voluminous, red sleeves. “If I didn't think he was ready I wouldn't say he is,” he said in a low voice. He stepped away from the priestess while saying, “I never thought a hikaze tenko could be so patient. Sixteen years is a long time to be a trainee.”

 

`I don't blame her for her thoughts,' he thought as he approached his young student. `He is much stronger than any I have ever seen before. It took Inuyasha three years to master the basic spells that other trainees learn within one.' As he approached the young priestess-in-trainee was getting to the more interesting part of her first day.

 

“…and then they told me I had to meditate under the waterfall. The water was so cold! They told me to take my yukata off so I would have something dry to wear when I was done. They wanted me to sit there naked! Then we got there and there were boys there! Boys! And they wanted me to sit in the water naked! Next to them! They were naked too!”

 

Inuyasha grinned and interjected, “That's why you meditate with your eyes shut. So you don't see anything you're not supposed to.”

 

“Oh I kept them shut all right! I kept them shut the entire time. They had to put me on my rock because I shut them the moment I saw the boys weren't wearing anything either,” the girl agreed, nodding so hard she rocked on her feet.

 

“I hate to interrupt,” said Kakiboufuu, stopping next to the two when they turned to look at him, “however, Inuyasha and I have a long journey ahead of us.”

 

“Do you have to go?” whined the girl as she gripped the young hanyou's hand. “I wanted to talk to you some more!”

 

“I'm afraid I have to,” said Inuyasha before Kakiboufuu could open his mouth. “I've finally been recognized as a master and I'm going to get my braces removed and receive my own katana. Don't worry, though, Keiko. When you are about to receive your bow, you write me and I'll be there to witness your passage into adulthood.”

 

“You promise?” she asked, staring up into his gold eyes with deep ebony ones.

 

“Uh-huh, promise,” he said.

 

“Alright then,” she said with a sniff and released his hand. As the two walked down the temple steps she ran up to the demon gate at the head of the stairs, waving and calling, “Good bye, Inuyasha.” He waved back until she turned away and ran out of sight.

 

“Don't you think she's a little young, Inuyasha?” asked Kakiboufuu with a smirk.

 

Inuyasha snorted and said, “Then it's a good thing little girls grow into beautiful women.” The old hanyou chuckled as the temple disappeared among the trees behind them.

 

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“No! No! No more! I give up! I surrender! You're too much for me! No!” The little boy laughed at his big brother's mock cries of defeat then growled and bounced a couple more times on the young man's chest. His brother laughed as well as he continued his wails of despair. A young woman smothered giggled into her palms at the two wrestlers on the ground.

 

The young man wore brown fur and armor and his black hair was cut short; his eyes a vivid green. The little brother was almost identical except his hair was long and tied in a high ponytail and his eyes were a striking blue. The young woman was dressed in silver fur and had brown eyes and waist length hair that flew free in the breeze. All three had the pointed ears of the demon race and fourteen wolves, most brown, lazed around them. In the distance other wolf demons played lazed about in the sun.

 

“Oh Koga, leave your poor elder brother alone. He's just no match for your might,” she teased, getting up and pulling the child off the man. Koga howled and clawed at the air as she lifted him into her arms.

 

“Mercy from the gods!” cried the young man before bursting into a fit of laughter when she stuck her tongue out at him.

 

Koga growled in frustration when his brother righted himself. “Let me down! I still need to teach him who's boss!” he cried.

 

“Oh really?” she drawled before turning the other wolf demon. “You hear that Hiroshi, he needs to teach you who's boss.”

 

“Oh really?” he drawled in return. “Then I guess you better set him down so we can settle this now.” She nodded and put Koga on the ground. In an instant Hiroshi was on top of his little brother tickling him mercilessly making the boy squeal and cry. “Who's the boss wolf, here? Huh? Who's the boss wolf?” demanded the young wolf demon with a sadistic grin, but Koga could barely breathe between squeals much less answer him.

 

BONK! A fist clunked the back of Hiroshi's skull stopping his fiendish tickling. “I believe I am,” drawled a male voice. Another woman snickered and Koga shrieked as he ran to the newcomers. Hiroshi turned around and gave a nervous laugh. His father glared at him with the same vivid green eyes, holding his fierce expression for only a moment before breaking into a grin. Koga sent a series of funny and mocking faces at his brother from the safety of his mother's arms. His mother just smiled at him, amused by their antics. Both parents had long black hair. His mother tied hers back in a braid while his father had his like Koga's. Koga's blues eyes were a gift from their mother.

 

“Hello Father, Mother, how was your trip?” asked Hiroshi. Kenji's snort spoke volumes. He and his wife had left nearly a month ago to mend ties between the western packs of Tenji and the rest of the demon wolf tribe.

 

“The elders are stubborn, they won't compromise even a little,” replied his mother, Tsubame, in a quiet voice. He and the young woman both sighed. The elders were the source of the tension between them and the packs. Without their acceptance travel outside of Tenji would be impossible. The other wolves would see them as traitors and attack. Bad news all around, many had been hoping to see family members who had chosen to stay behind.

 

Koga looked at all the depressed faces in confusion. Hiroshi smiled at him. `Poor thing is too young to understand why we're sad,' he thought and sighed. `Lucky him.' Three wolf demons, two male, one female, approached Kenji at a jog. The four looked up wondering what they wanted.

 

“Kenji, we're glad your back,” said one of the males, a thick burly type dressed in black fur. “There has been some suspicious activity in the south-southwest region of Tenji.”

 

“A gathering of some kind, well within the inner border,” elaborated the female, a small thing with red hair in a low ponytail and light brown fur.

 

“Has my lord said anything about it?” asked Kenji, though, he thought he knew the answer and sighed when he saw he was right by the shaking heads.

 

“The court's still shaking badly. I doubt he's noticed anything. It was one of our wolves that spotted it,” said the second male, a young lean demon with fawn hair and dressed in white fur.

 

“It might just be the beginning of yet another tenko civil war. Tenji's vice is the centennial wars. With how it has been lately we'll probably be in charge of Tenji's security for a long while,” said Tsubame, shifting Koga from her right hip.

 

The three looked at each other and the female said, “We thought so too but it's a mixed group and very few are wearing the prescribed style of armor and clothes.”

 

Kenji narrowed his emerald eyes as he thought about it. “You sure of what was seen?” he asked finally. The three nodded and he sighed. “I believe you, but I'll need to see it with my own eyes. Let's go.”

 

“I'm coming as well,” said Tsubame, setting her son down.

 

“Mom?” said Koga, frightened by the adults' nervousness and sudden change in mood.

 

“Don't worry, Baby,” she cooed, kneeling down to look him in the eyes. “We'll be right back. We just need to see who's causing trouble and stop them. Alright?” He nodded and she rose and joined her husband and the other three.

 

“Hiroshi, you take care of your brother until we get back,” called Kenji over his shoulder as they started running.

 

“I promise!” yelled Hiroshi to their vanishing backs.

 

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A young woman with snow-white, waist-length hair and violet eyes knelt beneath the branches of a great oak. She was dressed in a lavender kimono with white cherry blossoms images scattered across the fabric. The sleeves were long and full and her obi was deep violet. A young man lay with his head on her lap, blues eyes closed. His hair equally snowy and long, though, flashes of blue winked from the strands. Leaves rustled overhead and the shadows of clouds crossed their faces. Birds sang and squirrels argued. The young woman glanced up at the sky then sighed.

 

The man's eyebrows twitched and he said, “The day is too lovely and your lap too soft to be thinking of weighted things.”

 

She shifted her gaze to him and tapped him on the forehead. “And who is the one benefiting from my soft lap?”

 

“If that's your problem…” he said then hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her down. Naomi squeaked as she tumbled onto Kenmaru's lap. He curled up in the same moment and placed his fangs against her throat, growling.

 

“Stop that!” she shrieked, beating his back with her small fist. “If you want to play games with me then you need to be serious!” Kenmaru fell silent, sat up, and glared at the young woman in his arms. “And I don't care if you think it will never happen. I refuse to end up in the same situation as my parents!”

 

He sighed and lay back. She had a point. Sesshomaru and Kaiyoshinju was the regions most tragic love story that no one felt the least pity for. `Maybe that wouldn't be so if those two didn't have such violent tempers and sensitive prides,' he thought.

 

Naomi sat up and stared at him as he pouted. “I can see you want to be serious, so why don't you just hang the consequences and marry me like a real man. Your sister can't be worth this,” she said in an even tone.

 

“You don't know my sister. If Lord Sesshomaru doesn't give her what she wants soon she may decide to `hang the consequences' herself and take it. The rumors in the court suggest others agree with her. Lord Sesshomaru's enemies are increasing by the day and he does nothing about it,” Kenmaru said then propped himself up on his elbow to see Naomi better. “Why can't he just choose a bride and be done with it? The grumbling is all because he wont' marry. The animosity would return to normal if he did that one simple thing. There are more than enough eligible ladies at court.”

 

Naomi looked away, her hair sliding into her face, concealing her eyes. “Perhaps he doesn't choose because he is trying to hold onto what he cannot have.”

 

“He's going to get his throat slit,” whispered Kenmaru.

 

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Sesshomaru knelt next to a window staring out at the scenery beyond. Ocean waves washed ashore, visible from the distance due only to their white caps, and a breeze teased the forest leaves in between creating its own waves with sunlight. The calm sight brought peace to his soul; one of the very few things that did.

 

A knock at the door brought him back. With an irritated sigh he called, “What do you want?” The shoji slid open, unbidden, and a woman of snow hair and blue eyes stood in the opening. She didn't wear her usual blue and white kimono. Instead she wore a white kimono and hakama gathered at the ankles with a slash pattern in midnight blue. She also wore armor of a similar style to his, her hair gathered in to a high ponytail. Her eyes were intense and cold. Sesshomaru rose slowly without taking his golden eyes off her. Somehow he didn't believe this was a social call.

 

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A male hanyou with snow-white hair tied up in a samurai's high ponytail, piercing golden eyes and dressed in black both clothing and armor stood atop a rise and stared across the terrain. At his side stood a female hanyou with raven hair flying free in the breeze, burning scarlet eyes and dressed in a red and gold clothing and armor. Behind them stood an army of humans, demons, and tenko all of whom awaited his signal. Most were grim, others grinned in eager anticipation. Their bloodlust saturated the air. Before them stretched the lands of Tenji and within sight were several villages with people moving, living, throughout them.

 

Raising his glaive high overhead, Kuromakaze said in a quiet but far-reaching voice, “Now let it all begin.”

 

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Obi: the sash that women wind around their midriffs to keep their kimono closed.

Shoji: The sliding door covered in rice paper.

 

Chapter 14: Gates of Hell

Mass assault catches everyone off guard.