InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Hidden Past, Hidden Self ❯ Mika, Your Death ( Chapter 4 )

I do not own any of the InuYasha characters in this fanfic. However, the OC's are off limits.

More editing to come…

Chapter 4: Mika, Your Death

“Who's there?!” She stood and called out.

“Nobody of importance,” the deep feminine voice said. “Just someone you're only going to know for maybe five seconds.”

Kane stood her ground, claws set for attack. “What do you want from me?” She whirled around, turning in a complete circle, looking for her opponent. She scanned the trees and into the inky shadows, but she found nothing. She couldn't even smell this mysterious creature.

A blur raced past her so quickly she didn't even see it. She only felt the wind pick up as it sped by her, and then she felt the knick form on her cheek and the blood flow from the cut. Touching her cheek, she saw that the grey blur had stopped and was laughing at her. The woman wore a weird sort of battle armor; she had a breastplate made of grey wolf fur, a snug fitting fur skirt made perfect for easy maneuvering in battle. Even her legs had that same armor of fuzz. Her black hair, which was tied up in a ponytail, swayed with the wind as she laughed, holding her stomach as she did. And when she opened her eyes again, Kane shivered; they were the color of ice.

“Such a slow mutt-face. Had you any real talent, you may have been able to dodge that little attack.” Her voice was deep, almost masculine; but when she raised her voice in mockery, there was a sure difference between a man's voice and hers. “And what I want is your blood seeping into the ground.”

“My blood?” Kane stepped back. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to come out here to train this morning.

“You heard me. Hanyous are so naïve aren't they?” She made small barking noises and two smaller wolves joined her, but they were glowing like divine spirits from the heavens.

“Spirit wolves…” She watched them bare their teeth to her and she flinched when they howled. “But…why do you…?”

The woman smirked. “Weaklings, especially scrawny hanyous, shouldn't be allowed to live. So, shall we dance?” She barked out a command to her wolves and they lunged at Kane.

“Damn!” She dodged one of the hound's radiant paws as the other one raced by her on the other side. She barely missed that one too, but just the touch of its fur left an icy patch on her leg. She ignored the pain and started to run. `I have to get InuYasha! I have no battle experience!' She contemplated, darting around trees and brush. A clearing in the woods gave her the perfect opportunity to stop and catch her breath since she didn't smell the woman or hear the wolves anymore. Silence permeated the area, giving her a false sense of security. But it was short lived as the wolf demon and her minions swooped down from the trees tops and surrounded Kane.

She'd doubled her troops this time. “You can't escape me. I'm much too fast for you.” The woman approached and with the snap of her fingers, the spirits dispersed. “You're mine to defeat, and your blood will water the soil you stand on whether you want it to or not.” She lunged at Kane again, but she evaded her and sprung away on her hand. Landing on her feet by a tree, Kane leaned against it to catch her breath. The running and dodging were beginning to tire her; she needed to find a way to defeat her or she'd get killed. But her whole leg was burning with a cold fire as ice wound its way around her appendage.

“Who are you?” The hanyou girl asked breathily.

“I am Mika of the wolf tribe, your death.” Mika attacked again and Kane barely managed to lean to the side. The woman's claws stuck to the tree's bark and she took her chance to escape. But when she tried to run, her leg wouldn't move. She tripped over it and landed face down on the ground. An unexpected pressure was applied to her back as Mika stepped on her with one foot.

“You know, I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop moving so much; it'd make my job a lot easier.” Mika said in a sarcastic tone. “Now which should I do? Should I cut your neck and let you bleed slowly to death, or perhaps I should chop your head off all together?”

But Kane didn't give her time to contemplate that thought. She reached over her back with her right arm and threw her off to the side just enough that she could roll away from her. She stood clumsily, and prepared for battle. `Kami, give me strength.'

Now Mika was pissed off. “Okay mutt-face, I think it's about time I finished you off! So just lie down and play dead!” Anger raged through her and she used her Wolf Wind to knock Kane off her feet and into a nearby tree.

Her breath left her instantly, and pain scorched her entire body as the impact rattled her insides. Vision blurry, she saw Mika come at her again, a small tornado whirling behind her as she sprinted right at her, fist out to punch her. Though her ears were ringing and her body ached, she turned to her left and fell to her side away from Mika's death intended blow. The tree she had been leaning against broke in half and fell.

In an outrage, Mika brought her up and pinned her against another tree. “Still trying to defy me? Why don't you just give up and die already?”

Kane replied, breath wheezing from her lungs, “Because I just got here and I don't want to die.”

The wolf demon's eyes opened wider in anger and she forced her fist into Kane's abdomen. The blow was so hard she felt her skin rip from the tendons and the warmth of blood stain her kimono. Her spittle from the impact had specks of blood in it as she coughed. Fire clawed through her body once more and as Mika let her go, she fell forward on the ground.

Mika wiped her hand free of the blood on her skirt and turned to look at the hanyou, who was staring at her with pain in her eyes. “I suppose I should leave you now. That impact alone will kill you slowly as your blood soaks the forest floor. I can guarantee you'll be dead within the day.” She smirked. “It was nice meeting you, Kane-Sakura. Take care.”

`N-No. InuYasha, help me…' Her vision grew fuzzy and dark as she watched Mika sprint away from the sight of the battle. `InuYasha…please…' She finally let the pain ease her into the darkness that clouded her mind and her eyes closed as her life trickled into the ground.

***

“Kane…wake up! Open your eyes…” A voice from far away called out to her. It was faint, but she didn't want to wake up or become aware of herself. She knew that if she opened her eyes, she's feel pain and would want to die because of it. “Come on, say something…” The voice was strangely familiar, a man's deep tenor. Who was it? Kaske? “Kane, please just wake up…you can't die.”

`I'm dying? But how am I…?' She felt herself resurfacing, but along with it came the pain. She wanted to return to the dark, but her body had made up its mind. Opening her eyes, she focused on a blurry, silver and skin-toned face. As she centered her vision, she found InuYasha staring down at her and holding her head in his lap. His eyes were concerned, so much so that Kane almost wanted to laugh. Her brother, worried about her. That was almost funny as hell. She smiled. “Inu…Yasha…”

“Kane, thank Kami.” His eyes lit up at the sound of his sister saying his name.

She tried to move, but InuYasha held her down. “No, don't get up. You're hurt.” Kane looked down to see that his hand was applying pressure to her stomach and was covered in her blood. “Kagome went to get Kaeda. They'll patch you up here; it's safer not to move you until then.”

The sight of her blood made her gag. She lolled her head to the side to will the nausea away, and she closed her eyes in an attempt to lock out the scent of her blood. “InuYasha…it hurts…”

“I know, I've had a few injuries similar to this one. You won't be moving around for a while.” He didn't want to press any harder on the wound. She was already in a great deal of pain, but the bleeding wouldn't stop. But if she lost too much blood, she'd die. He used his free hand to grab some of his haori and rip it off. He made a ball out of the material and pressed it to Kane's mouth. “Bite this; I'm going to apply more pressure to the wound. You can scream as loud as you want and clench your jaw too. This will help muffle the yell and protect your teeth from breaking or your fangs from perforating your tongue.”

She took it willingly, and when he thought she was ready, he pressed down on her stomach harder. She screamed in agony, but refused to go under the spell of unconsciousness. Tears streamed down her face as InuYasha continued to put more pressure on the wound. Throat raw from yelling in pain, she clenched her jaw and bit the fabric.

“InuYasha, we're back!” Kagome called out on Kirara, the fire cat Sango had with her at all times. Kaeda was also with her and they both jumped down from the cat in a hurry. “How's she doing?”

Kane opened her eyes, pleading with Kagome to help her. She would have spoken except the cloth that was in her mouth kept her from saying anything. Besides, her mouth was so tightly clenched that she felt her jaw was locked in place.

“The bleeding won't stop.” InuYasha took his hand off of her wound and Kane saw that it was covered in her blood. Dizziness made the world tilt around her and she almost passed out again. “No, Kane! Don't fall asleep!” InuYasha still had her head in his lap and he slapped her face lightly to keep her alert. “You need to keep your eyes open, don't go to sleep.”

`But…I'm so cold…and sleepy…' She thought, closing her eyes against her brother's command.

“Kane!!” InuYasha swore under his breath. “Kaeda, we have to give her blood. She's losing too much!” InuYasha bared his wrist to her. “Give her some of mine!”

“But InuYasha…”

“Do it!” He yelled at the old woman. “She's bleeding to death and if I don't give her some of my blood, she'll die within ten minutes.”

Kagome brought her hand out to touch his wrist. “She's lost too much already. It would take away too much of your blood to save her.”

InuYasha closed his eyes. “Kaeda, do it right now. Slit my wrist and give Kane my blood. A small injury like this will heal within the day, but Kane's could bleed for days if we don't help her.”

Seeing that there was no persuading him, Kaeda took his wrist in her wrinkled hand. “How do ye plan on giving her the blood?”

The young miko took out a thin straw that was supposed to be used for drinking. “If there's some way to put this in Kane's vein, your blood could travel through a small slit in your wrist to her vein directly.”

The hanyou managed to make a small incision in Kane's vein on her left arm and put the straw in. Making an identical one on his wrist, he put the straw in it and let the transfusion begin. Meanwhile, Kaeda and Kagome bandaged Kane's wound with strips of cloth and bandages from the future. They watched as InuYasha stroked his sister's face with his free hand, gently trying to coax her out of the endless sleep. But as the blood continued to pour out of him and into her, he began to feel a little weak. “Kagome, has she stopped bleeding yet?”

Kagome nodded a little. “It's starting to stop. I think you've given her enough…”

“No! When the bleeding stops completely, then I'll remove the straw. Until then, it stays.”

***

She could smell smoke. It wasn't a strong scent, but it was there. There were voices talking all around her, asking questions on what to do about the poor girl. Squeezing her eyes, Kane felt herself coming back from the death like sleep she'd been in. Her groaning made the entire hut go silent and the next thing she knew, there were people sitting beside her. Now she opened her eyes and saw Kagome, Miroku, Sango, and Kaeda.

“You're awake.” Kagome smiled and felt the girl's forehead. “No fever; that's a good sign that an infection didn't spread.”

Kane blinked. “Where's InuYasha?”

The sound of wood hitting the floor made everyone turn and look behind them. InuYasha was standing by the doorway and had brought in firewood for the night. Relief washed over his face and he rushed to Kane's side. “Kane, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I think so.” She smiled in reassurance and saw his wrist with the puncture wound on it. “InuYasha, your wrist…”

His other hand moved to cover it. “You've been asleep for a week. I gave you a little of my blood every day to make sure you were recovering.” He smiled and cupped her cheek with one of his clawed hands. “Kagome eventually had to sit me about ten times before I got it through my skull that you weren't bleeding anymore so I didn't have to give you anymore of my blood.” But that smile soon receded and he turned stone cold serious. “Kane, do you remember who did this to you?”

She frowned. “Yeah, a woman named Mika…”

“Mika?! Was she a wolf demon?” InuYasha stated furiously.

“Yeah,” Kane shook away the feeling of terror as she remembered everything. “She had Spirit Wolves that were made of ice. One little touch and my leg felt like it was frostbitten.”

“I'd noticed that when we were treating your wounds. You will make a full recovery, but your leg will take some time to heal.” Kagome stated. “It took us two days to get a pulse back in your toes.”

InuYasha was silent, deadly silent. He was really pissed off, and Kane couldn't help but ask him, “Are you okay?”

He stood. “Kagome, Kaeda; keep an eye on her.” He started to walk out of the hut. “I'm going to bring you revenge Kane. I know of the person you speak of, she's an old enemy's sister.”

Before she could ask questions, he darted out the door and was left with the two mikos, a monk, and a demon slayer. “A sister of an old enemy?”

“Yes.” Kagome said solemnly. “After the Shikon Jewel was completed, we never saw Koga again. He and InuYasha made a pact that now they didn't need to have confrontations about the Jewel, they should never see each other again. His sister was included in that deal.”

“So this Mika character broke the pact?”

She nodded. “InuYasha was the one who came up with it since he didn't like Koga making passes at me. He's probably furious.”

“Oh I see.” Kane smiled. “He didn't like the wolf sniffing around your feet so he made up this pact to keep him away from you.”

“You could say that.”

Kane tried to sit up only to find that she couldn't without pain from her abdominal wound giving her excruciating pain. She almost screamed out in agony except even that would've hurt her too. Kagome put gentle pressure on the girl's shoulders to get her to lie down again. “That's not such a good idea right now. Your wound was deep and penetrated your digestive tract. We stitched it as best as we could, but you'll be bed-ridden for about another week.”

“Another whole week?” Kane couldn't believe what she was hearing. An entire week asleep and another week in bed. She felt her muscles that she'd built up over the time she'd been training turning back to mush and said weakly, “But my training...”

“Don't worry about that.” Kagome said tenderly. “You're a half-demon so you should heal pretty quickly. That and when you start training again, your muscles will remember all that you've already accomplished. It won't take long to get you up to speed.”

She nodded, but her eyes were shimmering with unshed tears. “Kagome, I...I feel so bad. It's like I'm responsible for this since I wasn't ready to go out and fight.”

“Don't say that...”

“But it's true! I didn't listen to InuYasha about there being danger here in this era and I went out by myself only to almost die by the hands of another demon. If I'd only been patient in my training, maybe my brother wouldn't have to go and fight Koga and his sister.” She gripped her blanket. “What if InuYasha goes and gets himself killed, and it's all because of my stupidity?”

“Kane, he'd do this whether you'd gotten a scratch from Mika or you were dead. He's just that type of person.” Kagome comforted. “And I don't think he's going to get himself killed. He knows when he can't take anymore.”

While the miko's words comforted her somewhat, she still felt some unease about her brother going to fight this demon known as Koga. If he was just as powerful as Mika or more so, she knew he didn't have a chance.

***

The cliffs in the horizon were not a welcoming sight for InuYasha. He'd been here before and every time was the worst experience of his life. He'd never liked asking Koga for help in completing the Jewel, but it was necessary. Koga had had to give up his two shards in his legs and his sister, Mika, lost three shards. Unfortunately, Kagome gave them the powers of the Jewel without actually having the shards in their bodies. So they were still fast and a pain in the ass to beat.

He stared at the waterfall that ran over the den's entrance and seethed. Koga was on the other side of that cascading waterfall and he quite frankly didn't want to face him again. But in order to gain revenge for his sister, he had to get the scrawny little wolf to appear. They needed to talk.

“Hey flea-bag! Get your ass out here and drag that wench you call a sister with you!”

It seemed like a bullet had shot through the waterfall after he'd said those things. That bullet was Koga himself, enraged and generally pissed off that InuYasha was here after that pact. And on top of that, he'd called his sister a wench! Only he, the Wolf Tribe leader was allowed to make fun of his sister.

“Well mutt-face, we meet again.” Koga stood before him. “You're going to pay for coming here and having the gall to call my sister a wench!”

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