InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Hagakure ❯ The Path Taken ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Inu-Yasha or any of its characters. I simply abuse them for my own twisted means of amusement.

[A/N] Okies! It gets a bit sappy in this chapter. Sorry, but I couldn't resist! I had this really pretty poem thingy that I wrote and I couldn't wait to use it somewhere!

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The Path Taken

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Inu-Yasha stood with the Tetsusaiga nearly alone in a field. Naraku stood poised before him, his minions having long ago deserted him.

"I'm going to kill you now!" Inu-Yasha shouted as he charged Naraku down.

Naraku easily dodged and lashed out at Inu-Yasha with a black, lightning-like bolt. It narrowly missed. Inu-Yasha attacked, using the Backlash Wave to harness Naraku's own power and use it against him.

Just as the attack was about to strike, Naraku stepped aside to reveal a small child. She had long black hair, burning amber eyes, and small black dog-ears.

"Hi, Inu!" she called out to him.

"Hagakure…?" Inu-Yasha asked stupefied.

Naraku smirked.

"When I die," Naraku laughed maliciously, "I'll take her with me."

Naraku grabbed the young Hagakure by the shoulders. She let out a small, terrified scream as she struggled to move away from her captor and the whirlwind type attacks that were headed her way.

"Kure! No!" Inu-Yasha called desperately to the girl as he rushed towards her.

Inu-Yasha was thrown back by the Tetsusaiga, its will for him to live stronger than ever. He watched, helpless as a puppy, as the Backlash Wave destroyed both of them, friend and foe, leaving not even ashes behind.

Inu-Yasha woke with a start, his heart rate and breathing rapid. He looked down into the clearing to see everybody peacefully dozing. He sat back and tried to calm himself.

"What the hell kind of dream was that?" He asked the tree. Is it supposed to mean something? Why was the young Hagakure with Naraku?

The wind blew softly through the branches causing the leaves to rustle, perhaps in an answer. An answer that Inu-Yasha didn't particularly understand.

"What does THAT mean, you stupid moron?!"

Hagakure woke at that sudden outburst. She scanned the area quickly and, finding no danger, fixated her gaze on the tree where she knew Inu-Yasha was. She silently moved Hakaki over and stood with a bit of difficulty. The others were still asleep.

Hagakure silently walked over to the base of the tree and leaned against the trunk. She watched amused as Inu-Yasha argued with the tree knowing damn well that it couldn't answer back.

"After all these years," Hagakure called up to him shaking her head, "and you still have problems with trees."

Inu-Yasha stopped his current insult and looked down at the demoness at the base of the tree. She smirked at him.

"Feh! Shows what you know." Inu-Yasha said as he came down from the tree.

Hagakure could smell the fear and worry that radiated off him.

"Have a nightmare?" she asked.

"Demons don't have nightmares." Inu-Yasha snorted, folding his arms and looking away.

"Is that so…?" Hagakure asked. "Then I'm no demon."

Hagakure placed one clawed hand on Inu-Yasha's arm. He raised his eyebrows, a flush creeping on his cheeks as he looked at her.

"Now what's that look for?" she asked him. "Is it against some law to touch you? You were never like this before."

Hagakure giggled.

"I get it now! You were dreaming of Kagome!"

"Why would I do that?!"

"Well," Hagakure said, "You blushed when I touched you, you were cursing out a tree for answers it couldn't give, and you woke up from a nightmare that obviously left you troubled."

"I DID NOT have a nightmare!" Inu-Yasha growled indignantly.

Hagakure smirked.

"Inu-Yasha, the only kind of dreams that could have this type of effect on you would be ones where you, your friends, or the one you think of as your mate is threatened or hurt in some way."

"I don't have a mate…" Inu-Yasha said quietly. Then he caught the meaning of Hagakure's smirk. "I DO NOT THINK OF KAGOME AS MY MATE!"

Hagakure snickered.

"The things resting in your subconscious say differently," she mocked.

Inu-Yasha glared at her.

"I hate you." he said, his tone even and foreboding.

"Glad to hear it!"

~*~*~

He smelt it again; that terribly vile scent that he'd become accustomed to after so long in the darkness; the scent that hopelessly lingered around him like a dark cloud; it was stronger than before. The bearer must be closer now.

"Shiro…"

A masculine voice toyed with his name, like a puppet on a string.

"Who are you?!" Shiro barked. "Show yourself!"

The cave-like room he was in lit up. Shiro squinted and shielded his eyes from the light. He wasn't in a cave; that explained the floor's smooth feeling. He was in a dungeon type room with a low ceiling. In front of him stood a man with oily black hair, cruel red eyes, and a sinister smirk.

"My name is Naraku."

"Naraku…" Shiro growled.

"You are angry with me, your lordship?"

Shiro's growl rumbled in his chest and echoed off the stone walls. He was being mocked!

"Lord Shiro, don't be that way." Naraku taunted. "How would your mate react?"

Shiro's head snapped to full attention. His eyes glared at the disgusting creature before him, narrowing into slits. Shiro struggled to move; he was rapidly becoming weaker. How? What was happening to him?

"If you touch her…" he growled, still struggling to rise.

"No need to get testy. She is safe, for the time being."

Shiro glared at the creature before him. He refused to call it a man; it didn't deserve the title.

"What do you want?" Shiro spat.

"That is simple," Naraku replied. "I want your holdings."

Shiro was smart; he knew that that wasn't all Naraku was after.

"Then why not just kill me and take them?"

Naraku laughed a sinister laugh.

"What fun would that be?"

"You sick bastard…"

~*~*~

Inu-Yasha walked ahead of the group, standard practice for him. Hagakure, Sango, and Kagome slowly walked side-by-side. Miroku followed closely behind with both kits on his shoulders making sure he behaved.

The girls filled Hagakure in on the journey and what they were searching for and the like, adding a few girl-talk moments to see if the boys were listening. At the pink flush that stained Inu-Yasha's cheeks, they determined they were, thus making it a bad choice if they were to talk about Kikyo.

That in mind, they purposely steered away from that subject. Hagakure told them stories of her courting with Shiro instead.

"He was such a hopeless romantic." she giggled. "He always said such pretty things… I wish I were as good with words as him. I remember once…"

*Flashback*

Shiro had led Hagakure to a beautiful willow tree. There was a quiet pond in front of it and there were flowers surrounding them. A quiet wind blew; it was light like a baby's breath.

Shiro sat down under the tree.

"Come here and sit down, Kure." he beckoned her.

Hagakure sat next to him.

"Not there, you goof ball," he scolded playfully. "Here." he said as he pulled her into his lap.

Hagakure blushed ever so slightly at being that close to him; her back pushed against his chest slightly. But who wouldn't? He was handsome, strong, and a reigning lord, but more important than that was that he seemed to love her.

Shiro wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her even closer. Hagakure felt the warmth from his breath and body and blushed even more. She felt goose bumps on her arms as Shiro lightly nibbled on her shoulder making his way further downward.

"Knock it off!" she scolded him playfully as she lightly swatted his nose.

Shiro moved his head back and snorted.

"As you wish, love."

Hagakure giggled and looked out over the flowers. She watched them as the soft wind played with them. They seemed to be dancing.

"Dancing for you, my love." Shiro whispered in her ear.

Shiro took in the flowers that were the entrapment of his soon-to-be mate's vision.

"The flowers bend with the wind in graceful motions." he whispered in her ear wooing her further. "Motions that the most skilled dancer could achieve only after years of practice, comes to these plants on the wind. So simple are these movements that it takes years to simplify yourself so that your ability is simple, like these flowers dancing on the wind. They concentrate on growing and changing, as must we all. Then we will be simple enough to dance on the wind."

***

"Then we became mates." Hagakure finished with a dopey smile plastered on her face.

"That is so beautiful!" Sango and Kagome exclaimed at the same time.

"I wish I could woo women with my words like that…" Miroku muttered under his breath.

Shippo and Hakaki shook their heads in disgust at the monk, not knowing fully what that meant but getting an idea considering it was Miroku saying it.

"Wasn't it pretty, Inu-Yasha?" Kagome asked.

"Yeah, yeah. Could bring a tear to a glass eye." Inu-Yasha said with a dismissing wave of his hand. "Now get looking for the shards, ya lazy wench."

"Oh! You- you…! SIT!"

~*~*~

As the day wore on, the group came to a fork in the road. One pointed west, the other east.

"Which way should we go?" asked Sango.

"Whichever direction has a jewel shard, of course." Inu-Yasha snorted.

Kagome looked in both directions.

"I can't sense one in either direction. Maybe we should do Eeni-meani-miny-moe?"

Everybody looked at Kagome, confused with the unrecognizable phrase.

"Eeni-meani-what?" Sango asked.

"It's a game," Kagome explained, "that is supposed to help you pick things."

A collective "oh" was heard throughout the group.

"We're going east." Hagakure said firmly.

"Why?" Sango asked.

"Call it intuition," Hagakure said.

"West," Inu-Yasha said.

"Now you're just being disagreeable." Miroku sighed. "Besides, you never go against a woman's intuition."

Sango stared at him blankly.

"What?"

"If you stopped going against my intuition, you'd get slapped a lot less."

Miroku rubbed the back of his neck embarrassed.

"I guess you're right!"

"Sango's always right when it comes to you, Miroku." Shippo sighed shaking his head.

After much heated deliberation (which ended abruptly with a sit from Kagome and a curse from Inu-Yasha), the group decided to go east.

~*~

Inu-Yasha was hot, sweaty, and, for all intents and purposes, it could be said that he didn't give a shit. His actions, or lack there of, could be justified by the nearly motionless objects now lying below him.

Normally, there would have been an upstart if Kagome had even suggested that she would like to nap during the afternoon. Most likely she would have been supported by her other companions on an afternoon such as this, and that would have vexed Inu-Yasha to no known extent and caused everybody an unnecessary headache. Surprisingly though, when the subject came up, Inu-Yasha agreed.

Inu-Yasha looked out over the group. Hagakure slept in the shade of a tree near Sango and Kagome; yet she was far enough away to keep their body heat from radiating to each other, making them warmer. Shippo and Hakaki had attempted to make use of the free time for playing, but in the end the heat beat them out. They now slept next to each other looking every bit like a pair of kitsune brothers. Miroku rested against the tree trunk directly below Inu-Yasha. That way, from his position in the tree, Inu-Yasha could watch Miroku and make sure he didn't try anything.

Something had changed, and it wasn't just the seemingly evil summer heat that had caused this sudden outcry for sleep among Inu-Yasha's human and not-so-human companions. It had something to do with Hagakure. Inu-Yasha couldn't tell what it was exactly, but her scent had changed. Not only that, she seemed to be picking on the males in the group.

They had been walking for the better part of the day in the heat, so maybe it was just the strain on her. Inu-Yasha had a feeling that it was somehow much more than that though.

Hagakure had been acting more than a little irritable after they come across that simple snake demon that had attacked. It had been killed easily enough, but a small amount of its 'demon slime', as Kagome had so lovingly dubbed it, had gotten on Hagakure. She had fussed over it to no end and ultimately made Inu-Yasha out to be the villain, calling him a 'stupid, messy mutt' and various other, rather unladylike names that could have made even Sesshomaru gasp. This was made worse when Kagome and Sango took her side; specifically, it had been "Sit, Inu-Yasha!" worse.

Not only had Hagakure become more irritable, she had also fussed over where she was currently sleeping. She made a little nest, growled and destroyed it when she laid down and felt a slight lump, then built another one. This was repeated five times until the bedding was satisfactory. Miroku had called it 'nesting'.

"Feh, whatever THAT means," Inu-Yasha said to himself, leaning his back against the tree further.

Then Inu-Yasha recalled another happening that had seemed out of character for Hagakure. She was being incredibly insulting to Miroku and even questioning his manhood. How somebody could question Miroku's manhood was beyond him, but Inu-Yasha had witnessed Hagakure do it. Though Miroku didn't look terribly insulted and had even joined in on the joking by agreeing with Hagakure on certain things, it had caused him to feel the need to show just how much of a man he was. Namely, by groping Sango extensively. Then Sango decided that she needed to show Miroku how much of a pervert she thought he was by beating him over the head until he was nearly unconscious.

At the time, the others had thought this quite hilarious, and had laughed at the beaten and bruised Miroku. Now, however, Inu-Yasha realized just how out of character it was for Hagakure to act this way.

"What's wrong with her?" Inu-Yasha asked himself. Not really expecting a reply, Inu-Yasha jumped when Miroku said:

"Mood swings."

"You're awake?"

"I've been awake, and, let me say, the conversations you have with yourself are quite amusing."

"Feh." Inu-Yasha huffed as he jumped out of the tree to join Miroku on the ground. "Now what's this whole 'mood swings' thing?"

"A fine question." Miroku stated. "As you know, your dear friend Hagakure is with child and, naturally, not being able to see your feet, bend over, get up without help and having little to no control over your bladder would make one irritable. Yet, she's going to have a child. Her very first with who is undoubtedly the love of her life. Now, consider this: her mate- the one who did this to her- is nowhere to be found. How would you feel?"

"Like I could rip somebody's throat out and hug 'em at the same time." Inu-Yasha growled.

Miroku cleared his throat before continuing.

"Well let's be thankful that you could never get pregnant and that Hagakure has chosen to spout her anger in…less damaging ways. Now, you can see why I accepted all the abuse and grief she gave me earlier; I pity her and understand what she's going through."

Inu-Yasha leaned forward and rested his chin on his fist. He raised his eyebrows at that last comment.

"And just how would you understand, monk?"

"I've been around enough pregnant women to know."

"WHAT?!" Inu-Yasha shouted in shock.

"Calm down, none were my doing." Miroku hushed him, wary of the types of blame Hagakure would pin on them if they woke her.

"Then how…?"

"I traveled all around Japan and assisted where I was needed before I came with you and Kagome. Occasionally there would be a young woman who would be ready to deliver, the healer would be busy or away because of war, and I would have to assist. Now what do you think?"

"I think that those girls' husbands were crazy to let you near them."

"How did I know you were going to say something like that?" Miroku sighed.

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^^ hope you liked! Reviews are highly appreciated, even if it's a flame! (just make sure that things are spelled right, or I'll just point and laugh)

--Netiri

Next Chapter: The New Moon's Gifts

She groaned in pain and fell to her knees clutching her stomach.

A small splash was heard and a man with long, dark brown hair looked up from the water. What little light there was from the stars made the beads of water rolling off him glisten.

He saw a female form on the ground and she appeared to be in much pain. He tried to scent her but he was upwind and it proved to be of no use. He quickly grabbed his clothing and dressed, feeling a strong need to see what was the matter with this female. And, more importantly, why she was in his territory alone.