InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Forgotten ❯ Broken Dreams: Entrapment ( Chapter 20 )

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

 

“Broken Dreams” was written as one chapter. 22,500 words and seventy-five pages later… I think you will all be pleased to know that I broke the chapter into four parts. Enjoy!

 

Chapter Twenty: Broken Dreams

 

164 years before the search for the jewel shards

 

My relationship with my uncle had been strained for years. As a recognized adult I had been allowed into the clan meetings. There I saw my uncle fail in so many ways. It is the philosophy of Tenji that a person is only strong enough to handle all that life gives them, both good and bad, if they are honest with themselves. My uncle may have deceived no one but himself, but in deceiving himself he caused the most harm of all, to his clan and to me.

-Inuyasha

 

Part One: Entrapment

 

Inuyasha stared at his uncle in disbelief. “What did you say?” he whispered.

 

“Must I repeat myself? I said `no',” replied Lord Kuromaru as he began to walk away from the stunned hanyou.

 

Inuyasha leapt forward, landing in front of him. “Why!” yelled the hanyou, his voice strangled.

 

“Don't yell at me!” snapped Lord Kuromaru, glaring at his nephew.

 

Inuyasha began trembling, not even sure what he felt in the chaotic swirl of emotions that flooded his soul. “Why are you refusing to let me marry Keiko?” he asked, straining to sound controlled.

 

“Keiko is a powerful warrior and we need her on the battlefield fighting, not wasting her time washing clothes and nursing babies like ordinary women.” Lord Kuromaru then stepped around the hanyou. Inuyasha, dumbstruck by his uncle's words, didn't immediately respond.

 

A moment later, he recovered enough to spin around and shout, “You honestly believe that? You, the lord of the tenko clan, the enforcer and protector of all our laws and traditions, the son of Kanzaki Jounochi, actually believe warrior women do nothing but `waste their time' after they marry? You, of all people, should know that is not true!”

 

Lord Kuromaru turned back, his expression dark. “You know we cannot spare any warriors in this fight. We're pushed hard as it is.”

 

“And you should know that our warriors are aging. I may have centuries to devote to battle but a woman like Keiko only has a handful of years. She is already 26! If she doesn't retire from the front and start a family in the next few years we can bid farewell to her power, her skill, her courage and her strength being passed on to future generations. Think about it! If you really value her abilities then don't you want it to be taught, to be given, to the next generation? Her time in this world is more limited that either of us. She won't be here forever! So stop treating her like she will be!” Silence fell and the two stared at each other, hatred pulsing between them.

 

Lord Kuromaru turned away and said, “My decision is final. Keiko will remain unwed and on the battlefield where her talents will have the most effect.” When Inuyasha opened his mouth his uncle continued, frost lining his words. “If you do anything to force her off the battlefield, you will both be tried for treason.” He walked away leaving his nephew standing in the corridor, completely defeated.

 

******

 

Two days later…

 

“What?” squawked Keiko, staring at her commander in disbelief. The warrior priestess had been sitting with several of her friends discussing plans for her wedding when the commander walked in and announced she was to be transferred to the silver army. “What nonsense are you babbling about?” she snapped, anger replacing shock. She jumped up and grabbed the officer by his kimono. “This better be someone's idea of a bad joke!”

 

“I'm sorry Arai Keiko,” he replied, struggling to pull her hand free of the fabric. “However these orders come from higher up and have been labeled as `nonnegotiable'.”

 

“Nonnegotiable, my ass! I'm going to be married,” she yelled, her face red with rage. The other women stood up and tried to calm her but she couldn't hear them through the buzzing in her ears. “Why would they transfer me when I'm leaving active duty?”

 

“Apparently, your plans are to be delayed for an undetermined amount of time,” he said, his voice unstrained despite the priestess's death grip on his collar. Keiko's impulsive temper was as notorious as her swordsmanship was famous. The commander had been expecting the explosion.

 

“What about Inuyasha? Is he to be transferred as well?” Keiko asked, voice tense, eyes boring into his.

 

“He is not, unfortunately. He will be remaining here with the gold army.” The commander pitied the officers in the silver army. Often Inuyasha was the only one who could restrain Keiko when she went into one of her fits. Something the commander wished he was here to do now.

 

“Gather your things at once,” he continued, hating every word that fell from his mouth. “You are expected to catch up to the caravan that departed two days ago and travel with them to your new post.” Keiko's jaw dropped and her grip loosened. The commander quickly pulled himself free. “I'm truly sorry, Arai. If it is any consolation, not even the general knows why this is happening.” He turned before she could grab him again and walked away leaving Keiko and her companions staring after him.

 

Keiko remained where she was; her mind whirling. If she were to catch up to a caravan that left two days ago, she would have to pack her belongings right away and hop on Kirara, but she needed to talk to Inuyasha. However, he'd gone to the capital a week ago to inform his uncle, the tenko lord, of their engagement. It should have been a simple errand, a courtesy call to Lord Kuromaru since he was family.

 

Now she was not only being transferred but ordered to leave immediately. It was as if someone wanted them separated. Her commander and the gold general both had expressed sincere congratulations when they had announced their engagement. So who ordered the transfer and why?

 

*****

 

Four days later…

 

Inuyasha walked into the gold army camp. He was still trying to figure out how to tell Keiko the disappointing news. Tenko lord or not, his uncle's decision was outrageous but Inuyasha didn't know who to appeal to. He wasn't even sure if there was a way. He tried to remember his history but couldn't recall a time when a lord had made such a decision. The point of the ancestors' circlet that graced the tenko lord's head was to keep them honest as well as to judge the candidate. Legend had it that the circlet could terminate the lord's reign if he failed his early judgment of character. How that happened depended on who you talked to. Some said the circlet would simply fall off and refuse to be placed back on. Others said the circlet would kill the lord by making the person's head burn to ash. For this reason the tenko lord's authority often went unquestioned.

 

Inuyasha felt his uncle had slipped through the cracks of the position's barriers. In times of peace the lord was rarely called upon. His uncle would have been fine if things had remained unchanged from the time of his ascension. However, the war had brought out all of Lord Kuromaru's faults. The circlet was designed to be flexible in order to allow for different situations. Kuromaru was acceptable but the times demanded more than mere acceptable.

 

“Welcome back, Kanzaki,” called one of the women warriors in the camp, jarring him from his thoughts.

 

“Thank you,” he said then looked around. He was in the middle of the camp, but Keiko had yet to greet him. Keiko always greeted him when he returned no matter what the reason for his departure. Many of those greetings had been the cause of great amusement for his comrades and merciless teasing for him afterwards. The fact he had made it this far without so much as a single pebble pelting him was disturbing. More disturbing were the sympathetic looks being sent his way. “Where's Keiko?” he asked the woman, a chill creeping us his spine.

 

“You don't know?” said the woman, startled.

 

“Know what?” he asked, the chill snapping to ice.

 

“I thought you knew. I mean you came in so depressed, I just assumed-”

 

“Know what?” he demanded with more force. The meeting with his uncle had drained him of patience. The air around him crackled as the last threads of his control began to snap.

 

The woman, feeling the change in air temperature, wished she was anywhere but there. “Lady Keiko has been transferred to silver army. She left four days ago as ordered.” That was enough for Inuyasha. He bolted passed her heading toward the general's tent. The air surrounding him ignited causing him to resemble a tumbling fire ball rather than a running hanyou. People yelled and leapt clear as he ran passed. He didn't care.

 

“WHAT'S THIS ABOUT KEIKO BEING TRANSFERRED?” he roared when burst inside not even waiting to gain permission. The general of the gold army, Inui Rei, was half out of his seat, his hand on his hilt, before he recognized Inuyasha. His commanders were either similarly on guard or had fallen over in their haste to escape the swirling flames. The general grimaced. He hadn't expected Inuyasha to be happy upon hearing the news, but he wasn't prepared for the sight of the usually well mannered half-demon barging in on his meeting wreathed in flames.

 

“First off, you need to show a bit more restraint, Kanzaki,” he said. Inuyasha flinched and took several breaths. The robe of fire slowly extinguished as if being drawn into him. The General Rei let out a quiet sigh of relief when Inuyasha once again resembled the controlled hanyou he knew and could predict then he continued. “I didn't order that transfer. I don't understand it either. Why was Arai sent away and so suddenly as well? Why am I being ordered to keep you within the camp unless being sent on a mission?” Inuyasha sat down hard on the ground, his remaining strength lost. “And why was it our lord, your uncle, who sent me those orders and as `urgent'?” The general fell silent and stared at Inuyasha, certain the hanyou had those answers. This time the explosion was not unexpected.

 

“That short-sighted, incompetent, trash-commander, worthless…” Inuyasha's rant grew fouler as he continued. General Rei knew better than to stop him, it was always best, and safest, to let the hitenko vent when furious. Words were only hot air after all. “It's not his decision to make! It was never his decision to make! I only informed him because he's family. What gave him the right to forbid Keiko from getting married ever? What gives him the right to force people to remain on the battlefield against their will? What gives him the right to charge people with treason if the woman suddenly ends up pregnant? Is this what it means to be a lord? To have the power to do whatever the hell you want to whomever you want? Where is the justice in that? Where are the laws that prevent this abuse? It's not fair!” Inuyasha fell forward cursing and punching the dirt.

 

The gold general stared at the hanyou in disbelief. He had gotten his answer and it was worse than he had expected. Lord Kuromaru had just broken the trust of his people and the majority of them weren't even aware of it. His outlook on the war had just gotten grimmer.

 

****

 

Six weeks later…

 

Kuromakaze growled. The commander kowtowing before him trembled. The man had just reported that another ambush attempt on Inuyasha had failed. “Forgive us, milord. I don't know how, but that hanyou seems to know when and where we're lying in wait. We've worked at making ourselves as inconspicuous as possible. We've even set up hours in advance so the forest life is making the usual noise by time he arrives. I swear he must be clairvoyant if he can detect us so far in advance that he can avoid the danger without ever being in sight of our lookouts.” The man sweated in the silence that followed and didn't dare look up. However, Kuromakaze's expression had softened, becoming thoughtful.

 

“Don't worry about, you're dismissed,” he said without looking at the man and waving his hand. The commander could scarcely believe his good luck but didn't press it further and hurried out of his lord's presence.

 

After the man disappeared Yamibi appeared. “How unlike you to be so forgiving,” she said.

 

“The man's babbling has brought up an interesting idea,” said Kuromakaze. The hanyou woman raised an elegant black eyebrow. “It may be or may not be clairvoyance; however Inuyasha does seem to have an uncanny sense. So instead of wasting further time trying to lay undetectable traps perhaps I should set one that while obvious is also unavoidable.”

 

“And how are you going to craft such a trap?” Yamibi ran her fingers through her black hair and pulled at a determined knot that had escaped her comb.

 

“With very good bait,” he answered showing her a scroll with a copied message sent by their spy. The date on the scroll showed the message had been sent some time ago. Usually, Kuromakaze disposed of messages after a few days if they didn't involve something long term. Curious, Yamibi opened and read the scroll.

 

URGENT

Arai Keiko, warrior priestess of the Temple of Heaven, is to report for duty to the silver army general before the beginning of the lunar month. Any delay is unacceptable and the order is nonnegotiable.

Kanzaki Inuyasha is to remain within the camp at all times save when assigned on missions for military purposes. No transfers will be authorized at this time. This is also nonnegotiable.

Kanzaki Kuromaru, Lord of the Tenko

 

Yamibi gazed back at Kuromakaze in mild confusion. The evil hanyou just smirked in return.

 

****

 

One week later…

 

There can be no doubt now, thought Keiko while rubbing her stomach. Stressed and confused over the sudden transfer and trying to adjust to new surroundings and people had blinded her to her body's condition. She hadn't noticed her missing monthlies but she did notice the difficulty of putting her armor on in recent days. When she thought back, she realized she hadn't bled once since arriving at the silver army. In fact, the last time had been over a month before she was even transferred. Eleven, twelve weeks since conception, she calculated, thinking back to that night. The expansion was still slight, no one would have noticed yet.

 

She flinched; this was why they had wanted to be married. After she had returned from one particularly harrowing mission she and Inuyasha had given in to their pent up passions. Knowing full well the cruelty of war, he had purposed the next day. It was supposed to be a short engagement, but the strange transfer orders had ruined that and now she was on the battlefield three months pregnant.

 

Worse still, the silver army was the one that was furthest afield. Any activity had quadruple the risk of the other armies and fighting occurred as frequently as twice a day. She had experienced only three days of peace since arriving and half the fights took place at night. Constant exhaustion and inconsistent meal times had easily covered the unpleasant side-effects of early pregnancy. Keiko considered it nothing short of a miracle that she hadn't miscarried yet.

 

The first letter she had gotten from Inuyasha had been short and to the point. Not surprising since it was difficult for a person to write with their left hand even if that was the only hand available for them to write with since childhood. It had simply said, “Uncle does not approve the marriage.” The kanji had been blocky and the lines thick, revealing his hidden frustrations and anger.

 

This answered a few of her questions about the transfer but it never addressed why the tenko lord would disapprove of it. Why send Keiko into the middle of intense, constant battle just because she had planned on getting married? She even dared to guess that she was being punished for trying to leave. That what Lord Kuromaru really didn't approve of was her departure from the battlefield.

 

Well approved or not, I now have to leave the battlefield. I've been lucky so far but I better not press it any further. It's no longer just my life I'm gambling with. I just wonder how the general is going to take it. She pulled her kimono around her then put on her hakama and tied it in place. It was going to be a long day.

 

****

 

“Why are you even still in the army?” barked the gruff, shabby wolf hanyou that was the general of silver army, Iken Makoto. “Couldn't you've noticed before you came out here?”

 

“My deepest apologies sir,” said Keiko with her head bowed. This was one of the few times she felt the need to be submissive, though, it went against her nature. With the life of an unborn within her she didn't feel like making more enemies beyond the tenko lord. He alone was damning enough. “I'm afraid I was distressed by my sudden transfer orders and failed to notice the tell-tale signs. I wasn't expecting to be sent further afield while I was in the midst of planning for my wedding.”

 

The man blinked twice and huffed. “Why then were you transferred? Didn't you inform the gold general about your plans?”

 

“I did and he congratulated me with full sincerity,” she replied with her head still titled downward, her voice beginning to crack. She was afraid if she looked up she might punch the hanyou. As if I would do something as stupid as not inform my commanding officer of something that important, she thought, her fingernails digging through the fabric of her hakama and biting into her knees. “I heard that it was Lord Kuromaru himself who ordered the transfer,” she said once her voice had steadied. The silver general was one of those types who had lots of opinions about people and the spite to say them to anyone who would listen. She didn't want to add to his list of irate comments about the gold general. She'd heard plenty when she reported for duty.

 

“What?” barked General Makoto, sitting up straighter and slamming his fist into the ground. “That two-bit, half-ass, can't-think-for-himself, Kuromaru? Whose bright idea was it to make him a lord?” Then there was the fact he was also one of those people who seemed to always be the last to know anything of importance unless that important thing made the extra effort to smack him across the face. Obviously, the transfer of lordship was a lazy piece of information.

 

“And where were you thirty-one years ago, General, when the transfer of power happened. Your opinion might have saved us a lot of heartache right now,” muttered Keiko; the words slipping out before she realized it. She braced for a reprimand. Generals might say whatever they felt like but subordinates were expected to mind their manners.

 

“What? He became lord of the clan thirty-one years ago? No wonder everything has gone straight to hell,” hollered the general, waving his fist then slamming it into the ground again. Keiko let out an inaudible sigh of relief. General Makoto hadn't noticed or didn't care about her insolent comments. “That rapscallion thinks pretty of himself and sits pretty but he's got his head so far up his ass he's forgotten what daylight looks like.”

 

Crudely put. Now I know why silver army is so far afield. General Makoto is the only one who doesn't think highly of Lord Kuromaru and Lord Kuromaru probably didn't want him around with that big mouth ridiculing him with every breath, thought Keiko.

 

She was jolted from her thoughts when the gruff wolf hanyou leaned forward and whispered, “Alright, Miss Arai, you're staying in camp until the next caravan arrives. You'll accompany them like you're one of their guards so no one gets suspicious. Don't want the enemy to know we gotta mother out here. Might try to make use of that. I'll also write you a letter to carry. Don't read it! Just give it to Lord Blunderhead when you see him next. I gotta few things I wanna say to him about his decision making abilities.”

 

If what he's just said is any clue then it isn't a wonder he's telling me not to read it. I'll have deniability that way when Lord Kuromaru comes looking for heads to cleave, Keiko thought, nervous butterflies taking wing in her stomach. I hope everything will be all right.

 

****

 

Five days later…

 

Keiko walked alongside the nearly empty wagon in full armor; Kirara walked on the other side. Several guards were also around but Keiko and Kirara were the closest to the wagon. She had managed to adjust her armor so it was comfortable but still functional. She hadn't grown enough to displace it much and so she didn't appear to be with child.

 

Three days until we're out of this hostile territory. Two days until we're clear of any enemy insurgency. Three months have already passed can my luck hold five more days? She struggled to not place her hand on her stomach for fear it may alert enemy scouts to her condition. A warrior being captured was one thing but a mother-to-be was another. A warrior was expected to give up his or her life in the face of imprisonment and interrogation. But if she were captured, many lives would be lost trying to rescue her just because she was carrying a child. Never before had she been this anxious.

 

The only reason she hadn't been planted on a demon horse was because demon horses were being targeted by the enemy. This far out the call crystals were more reliable in transferring orders, though coded, to the silver army. Keiko thought it ironic that items that had all but been forgotten only fifteen years ago were now seeing full use once more.

 

A cry spiked her veins with ice. She whirled and drew her sword as the forest suddenly exploded with activity. Enemy soldiers, three times the number of the caravan guard, swarmed the area. Guards were driven to the ground and the drivers and laborers took up bows and arrows but couldn't get clear shots. The ambush had been perfect. No one had realized anyone was there until they were already surrounded. Horses screamed and reared causing the wagons to bounce, knocking their drivers to the ground and running over anyone not quick enough to move.

 

Kirara launched herself at several enemies, tearing them apart with well placed swipes of her claws. Keiko saw the flash of steel and raised her weapon to catch it, but what she had thought was a sword turned out to be a chain. It wrapped itself around her blade then pulled tight. The strength behind it threatened to pull her off her feet. Rather than be dragged forward she released the sword and drew her wakizashi. The short sword was a poor defense in this melee but better than nothing.

 

The chains flew at her again. Not wanting to lose her last physical weapon, she dived to the side and rolled until she was up on her knees, the blade parallel to the ground. The sword began to glow and the blade seemed to lengthen as she called upon her priestess powers. Though, spiritual powers were most effective against demons, in a powerful person they could be used against a human of dark nature as well.

 

She lunged forward. The man looked startled to see his prey rushing him. He tried to draw in his chain to launch again but his head flew from his shoulders before he could pull in two lengths. Keiko glanced around for her sword, but it was nowhere to be seen. Her attacker had flung it away after he'd taken it from her.

 

She had no more time to contemplate this as another enemy came at her with a scythe. She dodged back as he swung, though she believed she had had no time to properly clear, the curved blade missed her completely. She thrust her wakizashi in and the man caught it on the wood handle of his weapon. His other hand snapped forward and grabbed her wrist then bent it back. She thought she heard something snap. She cried out at the spike of pain and, against her will, dropped her short sword. She rammed the heel of her left hand into his face then drove her right elbow into his throat. The man gagged and she slammed her knee into his crotch. He went down like he'd taken an arrow to the brain.

 

Before she could claim her wakizashi another attacker came at her with a spear. Fighting through the pain of her broken wrist she spun allowing the point to pass her hip then grabbed the shaft. The man grinned revealing only a handful of teeth still remaining in his mouth then started to spin. Keiko felt herself rise from the ground and it was all she could do to hang on to the shaft as she flew around and around. Knowing it was only a matter of time before she lost her grip, she channeled all of her spiritual power into the spear. The man choked then fell over vomiting, the spear smashing into the ground. Keiko rolled then sprung back to her feet.

 

Now she was in real trouble. She had no weapons expect for her spiritual power and the attackers were all humans. The amount of energy she had poured into the spear alone could have taken out a hundred demons in as many feet and it had only sickened the one man who had been holding the spear. Silently begging forgiveness from her travel companions and feeling like a coward she ducked behind one of the wagons. Kirara was nowhere in sight; the cat was still young and became hot-blooded at times. The twin-tail had pursued enemies into the forest instead of remaining to defend the caravan and Keiko. Nothing she could do about it now. If she called Kirara it would just attract the wrong attention. She grabbed one of the horses and unhitched it from the wagon. Then she climbed onto its back and kicked it into a gallop.

 

Almost immediately she heard the sound of pursuit. She glanced back. The surviving enemy soldiers had abandoned the caravan and were coming after her. Some had mounted their own horses. Her heart skipped a beat. Everything suddenly made sense. The chains, the non-lethal attack by the scythe. They were targeting her for capture. She urged her horse to greater speed and focused on the road ahead.

 

A rope snapped up across the path and there was no time for her to adjust. Her horse went down and she went flying. Before Keiko could hit the ground, a net appeared and caught her sparing her a nasty landing but trapping her at the same time. It was held by two horsemen who'd appeared out of the woods ahead.

 

“You have to hand it to Lord Kuromakaze,” said one of the men. “He knows how to cover every opening.” Keiko pulled and kicked at the net but only became more entangled. “You might as well stop, Warrior Priestess, you can't get away. Lord Kuromakaze has requested your presence. He has need of your services.” Then all the men laughed and Keiko knew terror unlike anything she had ever felt before in her life, not even when the Temple of Heaven was attacked.

 

To be continued…