InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Foundations of Neo Genesis ❯ Chapter 5

A/N: *hides from raging mob* I'm sorry about the long wait. School is an evil, evil thing that has consumed my life as of late. I had a ton of tests and a term paper to do, then there was finals. For those of you who have been keeping up with my bio on ff.net, you also know I had a stint of writer's block. Again I'm sorry. But do not fret. In my spare moments I'm been sketching different things that will appear in later chapters (i.e. Plants, animals, landscape). Please understand that when I say I 'sketched' these, I mean it in the broadest sense of the word. I'm just not much of an artist. Anyway to questions:

Q:Did Inuyasha kill Kikyou?

A:I think I need to go back and take another look at the last chapter, because I got this one a lot. The answer is: No. Inuyasha did not kill Kikyou, he just feels that she died because of what he was and he was not there to protect her. I will look into this and see if I can clear up the confusion.

I think that is the only question I can answer without jumping ahead in the story. I also got one guess on the underlying political message in the story from Patchcat. Utopia was a good guess, and right to some extent, but not quiet what I was going for.

Foundations of Neo Genesis

Chapter 5

The first thought to enter Inuyasha's mind when he woke was 'ouch'. His whole body hurt. The sun-abused skin on his arms and face felt as if thousands of hot needles were piercing him. To top it off, his muscles were sore from the long trek yesterday. He opened his eyes, only to slam them shut again with a groan. The sun was up and shining brightly already. He rolled over, only to instantly regret it. Every blade of grass, leaf, and grain of dirt felt like sandpaper against his skin.

Inuyasha pushed himself to his knees, despite the protest of his muscles. Shading his eyes from the harsh morning light he took in his surroundings. People were lying on the ground, some curled around themselves for warmth, and others stretched out. A couple, like himself, were in the beginning stages of waking. The fire had burned out during the night.

He noticed that Kagome was already sitting up and appeared to be fully awake. Her oversized comp was sitting on the ground in front of her crossed legs. Floating in midair over the comp screen was what appeared to be a slowly rotating landscape. Kagome reached into the slightly transparent hologram and touched a spot on the plains (creating a red dot), a spot in the forest, and a spot on a set of cliffs. Then she typed in something on the comp's keypad. Numbers and words scrolled across the screen too fast for Inuyasha's tired mind to register, but whatever it said on it made Kagome sigh.

"When's breakfast?" Inuyasha groused. Kagome cast him an annoyed sidelong look.

"Good morning to you too." She replied. "I found some fruits that are edible," She thumbed to a pile just off to his left, "But I haven't tried any of them, so I don't know what they taste like. If you're feeling brave, knock yourself out. Just don't eat all of them, the other's have to eat too."

"Keh." He snorted and pushed himself to his feet, moving to the pile of fruit. He had seen pictures of the fruits that used to grow on Earth. These were nothing like that. He picked up a red fruit about the size of a softball, and slightly oblong. It was firm, and had a soft, sweet smell. Turning it over in his hand, Inuyasha took a bite. The bite came out with a delicate crunch. Carefully, the half-demon chewed the piece in his mouth. It had a bland taste, with a hint of underlying sweetness. It was not much to his taste, but it felt good to have some food in his stomach.

"Would you hand me one of those purple ones?" Kagome asked without looking away from her comp display. Inuyasha shrugged and grabbed a small, pear-shaped fruit from the pile. He walked back over to the girl and plopped down next to her. He extended the requested fruit and she took it with only a muttered thanks, not bothering to look up from her hologram.

Inuyasha watched lazily as she took a bite from her fruit, her mind still on whatever had held her attention the last few minutes. The inside of the fruit was a flaming red-orange with a texture like a plum. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she spit the bit of purple and red-orange fruit out, right through her hologram, which flickered. Inuyasha patted her back as she coughed and grabbed for her water canteen. Only to remember she had emptied it for soup last night. In a panic she snatched Inuyasha's fruit and took a bite out of it. Inuyasha found himself too amused to protest.

"I thought you said it was edible." He chuckled. Kagome managed to compose herself enough to glare at him.

"Edible meaning it won't kill us, not that it would taste good." Raising an eyebrow Inuyasha retrieved the purple fruit from where it had been abandoned. He lifted it to his nose and sniffed. The spicy scent made his eyes water and his throat seize up. He coughed and snorted to clear his senses as he tossed the fruit away.

"Guess that'll teach ya, you can't learn everything from books." Kagome pursed her lips at him, "I guess I'll be getting myself another piece of fruit, since you ate mine." Kagome looked down to see the hard single seed of Inuyasha's former fruit in her hand. A blush crept across her face, but he was already gone.

"So, O'-great-and-fearless-leader," Shippou said as he seated himself next to her, "Do we get to name all these things, or has some greater power already done that for us?" The young fox demon was eating a fruit that with a rough, deep green outside, smooth, lime-colored on the inside, and shaped like a gourd.

"We get to name them."

"I think the purple ones should be called Spice Fruits." Inuyasha called from across the clearing. "Do you want another taste to make sure?" Kagome threw a rude gesture over her shoulder, only to have him laugh at her. "I didn't know they taught you that in school Bookworm." Gritting her teeth, Kagome chunked the large seed at the half-demon. Inuyasha, much to her disgust, caught it easily and gave her a bright grin.

"Jerk." She muttered.

"Sooo…" Shippou drew her attention away from the bane of her existence, "What's on the schedule today?"

"See these cliffs?" She pointed to the plateau in her hologram. Shippou nodded. "According to the readings taken when this planet was being assessed, they are made of a soft rock. They should be easy to carve caves out of for shelter." Shippou made a face.

"But those are at least twice the distance we traveled yesterday. Then we have to dig out caves!"

"They would have been a lot closer if we hadn't missed our landing spot." Kagome defended. "Besides, that is the optimum spot to ensure our survival. There we will have shelter, and a cave is the most defendable spot in case of attack."

"Attack?" Miroku asked from her other side, "From what?"

Kagome shrugged. "Whatever feels like attacking us; animals maybe." She tapped a few keys on her comp and the hologram vanished. She gathered her stuff up and tucked it into her pack, but put the comp under her arm. "If you haven't grabbed your breakfast yet, hurry up. We need to get moving if we want to cover as much ground as possible before dark."

"But it's still early…" Ricky whimpered. A petite mouse-haired girl next to him, Jamie, nodded in agreement as she rubbed her eyes. Kagome frowned.

"Gods, you're lazy." Inuyasha snapped, "Get up!" Ricky yelped and hurried out of the half-demon's path, along with several other people. Inuyasha pulled his bag onto his shoulder and grabbed a few extra pieces of fruit. Kagome gave him a questioning look, which he ignored, before turning and walking in the direction of their destination. She resisted the urge to look back and make sure everyone was following. She was not the keeper of everyone in the group and had no desire to be seen as such. All the same, she let out a breath she did not know she was holding when the sound of footfalls fell into step behind her.

The day was quickly proving to be as warm as the day before, but the shade of the trees cut down on the amount of direct sunlight hitting their burned skin. Kagome tried to keep her mind on where they were going, but she kept drifting back to a certain half-demon. He was a mystery to her. One minute he was insulting and making fun of her, the next he was supporting her lead. She sighed, already knowing that talking to him would be a waste of time.

Inuyasha glanced up at the sound of sigh. Kagome was walking with a slightly slumped posture. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. She was a mystery to him. He had never known anyone to put so much energy into books and school. Yet, as far as he could tell, she had no leadership skills. Her lithe form and soft voice just did not inspire confidence. And it seemed she was already giving up. A growl rose in his throat.

"Hey, you ok?" Inuyasha's head snapped around to face Shippou. The fox demon had a single eyebrow raised in question.

"Fine." Inuyasha huffed, but his eyes betrayed him by sliding back to Kagome. Shippou followed his gaze.

"She is easy on the eyes."

"So is a well made knife." Inuyasha retorted. Shippou raised an eyebrow again.

"Cynical much?"

"Experienced, runt."

"Hey, I've had a few women in my day." Shippou snorted in mock hurt.

"Of course you have." Miroku agreed with a large grin and slapped the young fox on the back, "We all enjoy the cut out pink paper hearts of our grade school days." Shippou stuck out his tongue.

"What would a priest know about women anyway?"

"I don't recall celibacy being in the job description." Inuyasha rolled his eyes at the two. His attention was once again drawn to the girl leading the way. Her posture had taken on more confidence, but it still bothered him. In his life he had learned that confidence could be the difference between living and dying. He studied her carefully. She had lost that slumped, defeated posture. Her shoulders had straightened and her head was up. The change did not inspire him.

Inuyasha huffed, pushing the thought to the back of his mind for the moment. His ears swiveled atop his head, taking in all the sounds around him. He found it odd. The noises were softer than on Earth; yet so varied he was having trouble sorting through them all. He guessed most were birds or bugs, but it unnerved him none the less to not know.

As he looked around at the trees, trying to identify the source of the different noises, it struck him how much like the city the forest made him feel. The trees towered overhead blocking the sun, just as the buildings had done. Yet the trees' shadows were erratic, freeform; where the city shadows had been uniform and predictable.

He also noticed the old, uncomfortable trapped feeling was starting to settle into his stomach. One thing he had never liked about the city was the closeness of the buildings; it made him feel vulnerable because he could not see what was around the corner. His brother had always said he was paranoid.

Yet for the first time he realized that he had not felt trapped yesterday. The open plains had given him a perfect view in all directions. It had made him feel safer then he had in a long time.

"Inuyasha?" Shippou drew him from his thoughts with a bump of his elbow. The fox's ears were tensed and a frown was marring his face. "Do you hear that?"

The half-demon swiveled his ears around trying to catch the sound Shippou referred too. For a moment all he heard was the sounds of the group, then something rustled just a little too far to the right. Years of surviving on the streets kicked in. His ears focused on the sound, but the sound was gone. Whatever he had heard was an almost silent mover. He took a slow deep breath, taking in any new scents. Unfortunately, there were too many to identify. A quick glance around told him that, so far only he and Shippou had noticed.

"I think we're being hunted." Inuyasha whispered.

"How do you know?"

"I've been hunted before." Inuyasha ignored the look on Shippou's face in favor of scanning the trees. Whatever it was, it was well hidden. He narrowed his eyes as a low growing plant rustled ahead of them ever so slightly. His hand flexed, knuckles cracking. His long, claw-like nails glistened on his fingers. Well-toned muscles tensed, preparing to fight if need be.

Kagome and Sango had settled into a comfortable silence. The kind of silence only old friends could share. Kagome was working away on her comp, trying to record everything they passed. Sango was keeping an eye on the group, making sure no stragglers got left behind.

Kagome took a brief moment to walk backward, recording information on a large tree, when a movement made her look back. Inuyasha had taken on a very tense stance. She made a face, wondering what had gotten his hackles up this time. Deciding to ignore him she turned back to take more notes. She looked up at some low growing shrubs, when something caught her eye.

At first she was not sure what she was looking at. She could see the shrubs and trees, dappled with light that made it through the canopy. Yet something just seemed wrong. One of the shadows moved and she blinked. The shadow shifted again. Kagome's eyes widened as she realized the movement went against all the other shadows.

Kagome gasped and threw her arm out to stop Sango. The army brat grunted as her friend's arm hit her stomach. The rest of the group stopped behind them with a murmur of confusion. Kagome shushed them harshly.

"What's happening?" A hawk demon named Gawain asked. His large, yellow eyes focused on her and made Kagome shiver. Kagome swallowed thickly, not sure how to answer the question without causing panic. The last thing they needed was to trigger the chase/kill instinct of whatever was in front of them.

"We're being hunted." Came the blunt answer. Heads snapped around to focus on Inuyasha.

"Wh-what?" Ricky asked.

"I didn't stutter." Inuyasha snapped, "Something is hunting us." A note of panic rose from the group and several began to back up.

"Hush!" Kagome whispered harshly, "Nobody panic and nobody run. We don't know what this thing is, so no sudden movements." Her words fell on deaf ears. The warning had barely left her lips before several people had turned to run. Kagome gave an involuntary cry for them to stop but it was too late.

The shadow leapt to life with a roar. Kagome spun around in time to see a large dark shape with gleaming teeth and claws coming at her. The next moment she found herself on her butt in the dirt. She blinked in surprise and looked up.

Inuyasha stood between her and a very large cat-like creature. The creature's coat was a patchwork of oranges and black; not unlike the tortoise-shell pattern once seen in house cats. Large green, slit-pupil eyes glowered at the half-demon. The cat was at least 12 feet long, not counting the tail, and was heavily muscled. A striking, cream colored stripe of fur highlighted the ridge of its pink and black splotched nose. Its ears seemed too large for its head and had a triangular shape. At the moment they were laid back against its head.

The large cat growled and Inuyasha growled back. The half-demon was drawn into a fighting stance. His claw-like nails were held like weapons and his legs were bunched to spring at a moment's notice.

The cat lunged and Inuyasha dodged to the left. In a surprising display of agility the cat changed direction and lunged again. This time Inuyasha did not have time to dodge. The cat's large claws sliced down his arm and sent him tumbling across the ground.

The half-demon skidded to a stop several feet away. Blood splattered the ground in his path. Inuyasha looked up to see the cat crouch. On instinct his hand groped the ground for something, anything, he could use to defend himself. His hand wrapped around something solid just as the cat sprang. Inuyasha brought the object, a large, dead tree branch, in an arc. The make-shift club caught the cat in the shoulder hard enough the throw it off course. Inuyasha rolled the opposite way and sprang to his feet.

The cat gave itself a shake as it too climbed to its feet. The two stared at each other for a long moment. Then, rather abruptly, the cat turned and disappeared into the undergrowth.

A silence hung heavily in the air, not even the birds were singing. Inuyasha still held the branch in his uninjured arm, while the other hung painfully at his side. Blood was slowly rolling from the wound and dripping into a growing puddle on the ground. Kagome still sat where she had landed, her eyes wide. Other members of the group peeked around from different hiding places. Shippou, still clutching Inuyasha's bag to his chest, from when the half-demon had shoved in into his arms watched in wide-eyed silence.

The branch fell to the ground with an abnormally loud thud as Inuyasha reached up to his bleeding arm. The sound seemed to trigger a flurry of activity. The group began to chatter excitedly. Kirara rushed forward, digging medical supplies from her bag as she went. Inuyasha tried to fend her off, insisting the gashes were nothing. He quickly figured out that it was easier and less painful, physically and mentally, to just give way to the nurse.

Kirara was quick to cut away the remains of his sleeve and peeled the fabric out of the bleeding flesh. She then carefully wrapped the arm in a pressure bandage to curb the bleeding. The wound ran from just below his shoulder to a few inches below his elbow, but not as deep as they first appeared. Kirara diagnosed that, as long as they did not get infected, he should regain full use of it. Inuyasha scoffed and told her he had healed from worse.

Sango declared a stop for lunch, but many members of the group insisted they move away from the bloodied ground. Miroku helped Kagome off the ground and Shippou shouldered Inuyasha's bag despite the half-demon's protests. The group stopped a few minutes later and Kagome started a fire with some difficulty. Soon, she had another pot of soup going.

She served Inuyasha first, asking if he needed any help. He blushed then snapped at her that he was not helpless. Almost as if to spite her, he drank the soup straight from the bowl, and promptly burned his mouth. When Kirara admonished him for not letting it cool, he snapped at her as well.

As soon as the meal was finished, and in hopes of pacifying the half-demon, Kagome declared that they would camp on the spot for the night. Inuyasha retaliated that it was just a few cuts on his arm and he did not need to be babied. He grabbed his bag and began marching off, leaving everyone else to follow or be left behind. Kirara and Kagome chased after him, telling him he should be resting and healing his injuries. He ignored them both as he led the group in approximately the direction they had been traveling all day.

Hours passed, and Kagome and Kirara finally gave up on trying to get Inuyasha to rest. But not before they convinced him to let someone else carry his bag. The group crossed a river just before dark. It was much wider, deeper, and rougher than the river they had been to the day before. Kagome cautioned again about water predators, and for the first time it seemed her words were heard. Of course it did take some persuading to get the group to cross.

They made camp on the other side just before dark and Kagome again made soup from a food capsule. Some complained about the lack of variety. Kagome responded that she would make something different as soon as they learned to make the fire hotter. There were far more volunteers to keep the fire going then last night, leaving Kagome free to do other duties - like changing the bandages on one irritable half-demon.

It had taken some convincing on Kagome's part for Kirara to let her treat Inuyasha. After a long briefing on the supplies needed and how to use them, Kagome was finally allowed to try her hand at nursing.

"I need to change your bandages." She tried to keep her voice even. Inuyasha looked up at her, the fire throwing his hair and features into deep relief of orange. His eyes seemed to glow of their own accord.

"What, the cat scared of me too?" He asked with a smirk. It had become apparent through the day that the encounter with the creature had caused many of the group members to fear him. Ricky had practically made it priority one to stay well out of Inuyasha's path. Kagome noticed, with no small measure of annoyance, that the change of attitude pleased the demon.

"No, I just wanted to talk to you and I thought this would be the best way." She knelt down next to him and set down her supplies.

"Aren't you scared, little girl?" Kagome fixed him with a cool look.

"You may be a good fighter, but I have seen nothing more from you then I've seen from an average bully. You talk tough, Inuyasha, and tough you may be, but I will not be strong-armed into submission." Inuyasha snorted as she began to unwrap his arm. The bandages were bloody, and she gave a small dry heave at the sight. They were silent as she worked .He did not fight her attentions, accepting it grudgingly. Kagome concentrated on everything Kirara had told her.

The task proved more daunting than she had first thought. She had taken a brief course in nursing, as was required for her training, but nothing in her books could have prepared her for this. Beneath the bandages was real flesh. The bleeding had ceased, but the life-giving fluid still clung to skin and exposed muscle alike. The four jagged slashes ran parallel down his arm, the skin ripped like paper over firm muscle. Every breath he took made the flesh ripple ever so slightly. The wound looked incredibly painful, but Inuyasha insisted it was nothing and he'd had worse.

Carefully, she rubbed the cool blue cream over the injury as she had been instructed. Inuyasha showed no sign that the ministrations hurt at all. She took up the clean wrap and began to cover his arm.

"Why?" The question left her lips almost silently. It had been plaguing her from the moment she had found herself on the ground. She felt him turn towards her, those hard golden eyes boring their way into her skull. Kagome kept her eyes down, trying to pay attention to her work.

"Why what?" He grunted.

"Why… why did you save me? You could have saved yourself and run away with everyone else. You got hurt because you were… protecting me. Why?" Her eyes came up to meet his for the first time. He stared at her for a long moment, and for the smallest of moments she saw something flash across them. But it was gone before she could identify it and he snapped his head away.

"I don't run from anything." There was a finality in his voice that told her that was all the answer she would get. With an inward sigh, she tied off his bandage, gathered the medical supplies, and returned to Sango and Kirara.