InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Hidden Past, Hidden Self ❯ The Forgotten Promise ( Chapter 8 )

I do not own any of the InuYasha characters in this fanfic. But I do own the main character and her soon to be boyfriend; the other made up ones belong to my friends. Steph owns Mika, Nicky owns Michi (coming soon), and Danielle owns Yuki (coming soon).

Last time on The Hanyou's Little Sister

"Listen to me! I smell human blood, lots of it. And it's mixed with two kinds of demon blood; we need to hurry before they get too far ahead of us!" Kane sped up as Mika slowed down and turned around to find InuYasha.

***

"I'll go for you."

Setsuna looked at her like he'd seen her for the first time. "Would you really do that for me?" He winced again.

"Of course I will; you saved me and my brother so it's my turn to pay you back." She smiled real big, reassuring him that she would do everything in her power to kill that demon.

He sat up excruciatingly, and wrapped his good arm around her shoulders. A little taken back by his actions, she asked, "Setsuna, what're you doing?"

"Don't do this as pay back; do it just because you care." He continued to hug her, his grip tightening as if she would disappear if he let go.

***

"Are you insane?! This wolf over here set her a week behind on her training and you sent her on a dangerous mission for your damn sake?!" InuYasha grabbed Setsuna by the neck this time and let his feet dangle in mid-air. "You're asking for an even worse injury than what you already have pal!"

***

`Weird; I'll have to ask Kane what really happened. There's a good chance she'll tell me.' The sky darkened more as the sun sank into the west, revealing a radiant full moon. A shiver ran up her spine when she saw it for what felt to her the first time. `Something doesn't feel right.' She questioned her senses for the moment, thinking she must've been crazy to be so concerned about somebody she hated. She couldn't drop it though. `Kane might be in trouble; but how?'

Chapter 8: The Forgotten Promise

The sun was almost completely set as Kane-Sakura leapt from branch to branch. She stopped on one tree and leaned against its trunk for a quick break. The only problem was she had lost the scent of the demon long ago and was out of ideas on where it could be. It was almost as if her nose had stopped working or the demon had disappeared. "Chikusho, I've lost the scent!" Kane pounded her hand on the tree in frustration. "At this rate, I'll never find that demon!" The full moon rose over the tree tops, creating an eerie sort of glow on the forest floor. Without warning, her heartbeat increased. It was so sudden; she fell back, grabbing her chest in agony, and out of the tree onto the ground. Her veins coursed with the thick feeling of pins and needles, her pulse raced in her body. "AAHH!!" She laid on the ground, writhing in pain and frustration as she screamed in distress.

InuYasha had heard her scream and found her on the ground; her body curling up into a ball. Knowing what his sister had to be going through, he ran over to her thrashing body and knelt by her.

"InuYasha…my veins…are…pulsating." Kane managed to say through gasps. The prickling sensation she was feeling intensified even more and she groaned in pain. "Why is…this hap…?" She couldn't finish her sentence; her lungs felt constricted of air.

"This is your first time in years that you've experienced this; it's gonna hurt." Being the caring brother that he is, InuYasha smoothed out her hair.

"My first time in years?" She managed to say without stuttering or pausing. "What do you mean?"

"You were born on the night of the full moon; unlike you I was born on the night of the new moon.* Every month, a hanyou goes through this process of their demon side ebbing away, we turn human for one night."

"So, I was born human?"

"Well, yeah technically. Since your powers were locked away for almost sixteen years, this first time is going to hurt."

Slowly but surely, the pain stopped and her heartbeat slowed to its normal pace. She held her head as she sat up, a migraine beginning to set in. "Ugh, that was the worst thing I've ever felt!" Kane looked at her hand to find she no longer had her long claws, but normal human finger nails. She felt for her ears, but they weren't there anymore; they were on the side of her head in the place they were for humans. And her hair was the same color as her brothers, silver.** The final change she noticed was that her teeth were normal again too; no more fangs, just human incisors. "I…I'm human?"

"Didn't I tell you that before? Your time to be human for a night is now, during the full moon." He stood to help her up, offering her his hand. "During this time, you need to hide yourself or every demon will find out and be after you."

"So? I have a promise to fulfill and I can't just back down because of this stupid half-demon thing!" Kane turned around away from her brother and crossed her arms in defiance. "I won't do it!"

InuYasha's ears twitched in anger. "You need to hide!"

She didn't listen; she just stood there in noncompliance not responding to his nasty attitude.

His anger only intensified; but he kept his cool, finding a way that would keep her from harm. "Hey, I've got something for you."

Her interest had been restored, so she turned to find the sword shoved right in her face. "It's a sword." She stated frankly.

InuYasha hit his forehead with his palm and sighed. "Yeah, that's exactly what it is. Now take it."

"But I don't know how to use a sword; I don't even know how to hold it right."

"There's nothing to it, but ignore that for now. Just take it; it'll protect you from harm."

"Protect me? What can this sword do that another one can't?!" Kane laughed at her brother.

"It's your inheritance from our father; it was made from his own fang." He handed it to her. She held it gingerly, as if touching it anymore would break it. "It's called Teretsu, Golden Fang. When you're demon again, you should be able to use it with your special ability."

"And that is?"

"That you'll have to find out yourself." As he said this, Mika showed up behind him with Setsuna limping by her side. "Mika, I thought I told you to finish him off!" InuYasha growled at the Neko demon.

"Heh! I didn't feel like doing that tonight; he is in such a pathetic state that I almost felt sorry for him." She looked at the panting cat, who was obviously tired from the long travel they had taken. He looked up at Kane, utter surprise covering his face.

"Ka…Kane-Sakura, is that you?"

"Setsuna, you shouldn't have come out here! Your injuries are…" But the crashing of trees from behind us interrupted my speech. The demon that had almost killed Setsuna had come back.

"My brother's prize has been found! And in human form no less; what a delightful day it has turned out to be!" He tried to seize Kane, but InuYasha was too fast for him. He took Kane in his arms, then sprung into a nearby tree. Setting her down gently, he said, "Stay here…" he regretted saying those words. He paused, waiting for her to fall to the ground in a loud boosh! Nothing happened. "Nani?"

"Something wrong InuYasha?" Kane asked, trying to blink away the confusion in her face.

`That's right, she's human. It doesn't work when you're human.'*** InuYasha thought. "Anyway, stay here while I fight that demon. Whatever you do, DO NOT lose that sword!" Without another word to his sister, he leapt away to fight the demon.

From behind her, the demon slowly crept his hand closer to her body. Since her sense of smell wasn't working and her ears were human, she heard nothing as the hand plucked her out of the tree like she was some kind of ripe fruit. "Huh?!" She couldn't contain her surprised gasp as the demon squeezed her with all his might. Now that Kane had a close up view of the demon, she could easily tell that it was a giant ogre, with long horns and red glowing eyes.

He looked right at her in triumph. "What a little prize you are indeed."

Kane screamed for her life, wriggling to try and get out of the ogre's lung constricting grasp he held on her poor little body. "InuYasha, help!!"

"Kane?!" InuYasha looked behind him and saw the demon hanging onto his sister like she was a rag doll. "Kane-Sakura, hang on!"

"Hang on?! I think the ogre's doing that for me!" She cried out.

"Kane-Sakura!" Setsuna yelled out in anguish. InuYasha looked over at him in question. Either he didn't notice Kane's older brother giving him an icy stare or he just ignored it; but he didn't stop staring at Kane as she was being crushed by the demon's nasty hands.

`I'll deal with him later; right now, my sister needs help!' He unsheathed Tetsusaiga. "Hey ugly, put my sister down before I make your face even more hideous than it already is!"

"This wench is mine now! Vengeance will belong to me!" The ogre smiled, revealing long, yellow, pointy teeth. Kane cringed.

`Vengeance again; why does everybody want me dead?!' Kane groaned as she thought this. `Never in my life has the present sounded so good!' He squeezed harder, compressing more of her breath from her lungs.

"Bastard; I don't know why you want revenge on my sister so bad, but you'll pay for trying!" InuYasha jumped into the air, swinging his sword over his head. He sliced the demon's wrist off in a single swing. As Kane fell to the forest floor, InuYasha planted his Tetsusaiga in the ground, arms out ready to catch her. But the ogre was too fast and too smart to fall for such a childish trick. He used his good hand to grab onto her falling form, then his other hand grew back. It looked as if it had never been cut off in the first place.

"You think I'm going to lose so easily?!" The demon laughed at Kane's brother's dilemma. "You're only a hanyou!"

InuYasha growled at the sound of that name. Then he heard Kane's groan as the ogre's grip tightened around her. He looked up, not sure of what else he could do to save her from death.

"InuYasha, I'd kind of like to have some breathing room soon!" Kane was trying her best to be strong, but was slowly failing. Her vision was becoming blurry and her breathing harder by the second. She could hear her ribs cracking in her chest.

"InuYasha, what're you going to do?! He regenerates too easily!" Mika shouted as she let Setsuna sit on the ground.

The cat had the answer. "Aim for his heart; the heart is the center of the demon! Puncture that and he'll die instantly!" Setsuna said as loud as possible. "Use the Wind Scar!"

"No way in hell! It'll kill Kane along with the demon; last time I checked, I wanted her to survive!"

Kane then remembered the sword she still held in her hand and what her brother had said about it. "InuYasha, go for it! I'll be fine; I have Teretsu!"

"But what if…"

"Do it! I'm human and I can't do anything to save myself! The Wind Scar is the only answer!" She yelled out in desperation. "You said this sword would protect me!"

"My Wind Scar would pulverize you, even with the sword! I have a better idea!" He grabbed Tetsusaiga, then charged forward with its tip facing the ogre. "He said I need to aim for the heart, well the heart it is!" He gained speed, then leapt into the air towards the heart cavity of the demon.

"Fool! This girl protects me!" The ogre put Kane in front of his chest.

"No, stop; you'll hit Kane!" Setsuna yelled out. But InuYasha was too close to her to be able to halt his actions. The only thing he could manage was to bring it back away from the demon and Kane. It wasn't enough though; his sword cut Kane's cheek; a gash of deep crimson blood appeared. Blood trickled down her rosy skin, making her wince when the pain became a reality.

"Shit; he's using her as a shield!" The full moon illuminated InuYasha's frustrated face.

"Just use the Wind Scar!" Kane exasperated.

"No; haven't I told you that before?!" He growled.

The demon's grasp was becoming tighter and tighter; Kane couldn't stand much more of it. Her ribs must have been all broken and her lungs punctured at least once. Her breathing was coming in on short gasps and her body strained to get as much oxygen as possible. Her vision became blurrier and she became extremely light-headed. "Do something quickly brother; I can't hold out…much…" Not able to finish her sentence, Kane passed out.

"Kane; don't just give up like that!" Setsuna yelled out.

Now InuYasha was teed off. "Setsuna, why do you care so much for my sister's safety? I thought you hated my guts!"

"Your sister is different. Besides, I don't even know her like I know you AND she never attacked my village!" When he yelled out, his whole body hurt and he collapsed in a heap on the ground.

"Heh; I'll show you what strong is feline!" He boasted to Setsuna.

"Then let me show you something even stronger!" A voice came out of nowhere. A shadowy figure came out of the thicket of the forest.

"Who are you?!" InuYasha demanded.

As the figure came closer, it said, "Your little sister's savior, Trowa." The tall man was definitely demon; he had eyes of pure silver with no pupils, he had streaks of red on his cheeks that gave his face a distinct and distinguished look, his ears were that like Setsuna's, and his hair was back in a long black braid. He was obviously rich too; he wore a beautiful kimono of blue and gold silk. On his left hip, he had a sheathed sword.

"What kind of demon are you?" Mika asked straightforwardly.

"Do I have to explain myself to a cheeky wolf-girl as yourself? I believe not." He turned his attention towards the demon holding Kane's body. "Quite a sight we have here. And may I inquire as to why you're squeezing the air out of my fiancée's chest?"

"Fiancée?! Since when is Kane engaged to him?!" Mika exclaimed.

"That's right. I have been engaged to her since I was about three years old. Unfortunately, she disappeared as an infant and has been missing ever since; and to finally find her again, what a joy it is to my heart."

InuYasha got within ten inches of Trowa. "Liar; she's never been engaged before!"

"Ah, but she has. Her late mother had agreed to my family that when I and Kane-Sakura both reached the decent marrying age, we would be wed. When I turned sixteen, she had been missing for almost thirteen years. And when she had reached sixteen, we still had no chance of finding her.

"It became apparent to our family that she was back only this morning when one of our servants saw her running through the forest doing training with that wolf-girl. So, I came to see her and officially make her my wife." Trowa boasted.

"Hey, what if she likes somebody else and not you?" Mika defended Setsuna.

"Too bad; I'll make her fall in love with me. I mean, how can she resist me?" He crossed his arms, arrogantly turning away from the rest of the group.

All were silent as he stood there. Mika slapped her forehead; the demon just kept his grasp on Kane; and InuYasha put major sarcasm on his face to say, "Full of yourself aren't you?" Pointing at his own head he included, "Your head must be all hot air!"

"I'll prove to my fiancée that she deserves nothing but the best from me!" He turned his attention to the ogre once more, drawing out his own demonic sword.

"It's no use; this girl is my shield! You pierce me, you execute her." The demon showed off. "Go ahead and see if I care!"

Trowa smirked. "Little do you know that this sword only cuts those I want to. My Obakeginsei**** has special powers that exceed any other sword known to man or demon." He leapt into the air with the grace of a beautiful swan, soaring above the ogre with flawless elegance. Suddenly, he pointed his sword down toward the demon's heart. Kane-Sakura was still unconscious, so she didn't feel the motion of the demon moving her in front to protect himself from the inevitable. As if Kane were a ghost, she was left unharmed as the sword went through her. But the ogre wasn't so lucky; the sword pierced his heart. He let go of Kane, then disappeared without a trace.

Kane fell down with a demon's normal slow decent. Trowa caught her in his waiting arms after sheathing Obakeginsei. "What a spectacular sight, though I thought her to be half-demon; she looks like a normal human being to me." He cradled her in his arms with tender care, smoothing out her hair with a tender sweep of his hand. "No matter; she's mine now." He calmly began to walk away.

InuYasha stepped in front of the retreating demon. "I don't think so. My sister will stay with me!"

"Oh-ho! Really?! I thought I was the one who'd saved her; maybe I imagined it. Not to mention, we must be married as soon as possible, so she must come with me."

"You can't take her, she doesn't even know who the hell you are!" Setsuna begged.

"And who are you to say I can't? You are a lowly feline and a three-quarters nonetheless. I, on the other hand, am full demon and fully capable of protecting her." He then turned to InuYasha. "And you have proven my point by not protecting her!"

InuYasha stepped back. `It's true, this time I couldn't protect her from harm. And it's all Setsuna's fault.' He turned towards the three-quarters demon and scowled. "Shizuka ni*****! Give her…"

"I'm leaving now, so if you mind." A great puff of smoke engulfed him and he disappeared with Kane in tow.

The group coughed until the smoke cleared. Once it had, InuYasha began to sniff around for his sister. "Damn! That Trowa his scent by covering the entire area with the smoke smell along with himself!"

"So you can't smell him?" Mika asked.

"Nothing." InuYasha turned to Setsuna. "And none of this would've happened if a certain someone hadn't sent her to her doom!"

"Don't you think that you should focus on finding Kane?"

"Why are you so concerned anyway? She's my half-sister, remember?" He came closer to Setsuna's face. "You almost seem to LOVE her!"

Setsuna's face turned into a tomato. "N-no, nothing like that. I just don't want to see a woman get hurt."

InuYasha accepted what he had said for the time being. At the moment, he was more concerned about finding Kane rather than arguing with that feline. "Mika, stay with this cat. I'm gonna go ahead and hunt down Trowa." With a great leap, he was out of sight.

Mockingly, Mika crouched down to Setsuna's sitting height and said, "You like Kane, don't you?" She snickered.

"Okay, I'll admit that she is kind of cute…and hot." He said out loud.

"I knew it! So, are you going to tell her?"

"Nani; I have to tell her?!"

"Well, duh! If you really care about her that much, go ahead and tell her the truth."

"I don't love her! I just think she's cute, that's all!" Setsuna ended the conversation there. Mika understood full well what he was going through for she too had someone whom she loved and hadn't told. It was only because she was still having problems admitting it to herself.

~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`

Yet another chapter completed! As you might not have known, this story is already 208 pages long in hand written pencil; and so far, I'm only on page 67. Because I hate typing long stories by copying something I have already written down, I have watered it down to some extent, but I've added other things that I haven't read to my friends. Plus there are improvements to this story that make the fight scenes a little more intense. Anyway, I have some definitions to put down here.

*= This is just one of my theories that the night or day the hanyou is born is the night or day they lose their powers. Of course this corresponds to the new moon and the full moon for InuYasha and Kane-Sakura.

**= Yet another one of my theories. I believe that when the hanyou turns human on that night or day, their hair color transforms into the opposite sex that they are. What I mean is since InuYasha is a male, his hair turns to the color of his mother, black. With Kane, since she's female, her hair turns silver, like her father's and her two half-brother's.

***= Once again, a theory. We've never seen InuYasha get subdued while he's human, so maybe it doesn't work when he's a human. Then again it could work, but maybe Kagome doesn't want to hurt him when he's human.

****= Obakeginsei: Silver Phantom, Trowa's sword. This really is the Japanese language used here. Obake means Silver, Ginsei means Phantom.

*****= Shizuka ni: It means shut up in Japanese. I tried to look up ursei (I don't know if I'm spelling this right), but it wasn't in my Japanese dictionary.

Sayonara for now fans! I'll try to update after my trip to Devil's Lake. From what I hear, it's a lot like being in Feudal Japan.