InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Inu Yasha Themes ❯ Reason to Live ( Chapter 4 )

 

Reason to Live

 

Sometimes, it didn't feel like that bastard was truly dead.

He paused to flick his hair out of his face, squinting at the chaos around him: torn earth, an ancient ridge reduced to worthless rubble, the scent of blood hanging in the air, guts strewn across the ravaged soil.

More deaths the wolf-youkai tribe could ill afford.

A soft growl rumbled through his chest, not quite making it to his throat. These days, he didn't have the luxury of anger - he simply had to keep hunting, had to stay focused on the truth that young boy had so painfully revealed, the need - no, responsibility - to protect his people.

What was left of them, anyway.

He lifted his head a little higher, nose sifting the wind for the scents of the murderers; just the latest in a long line. The wind shifted gently, teasingly stealing away any trail that he might have used.

After the defeat of Naraku and the jewel, that dog and his friends had passed by to at least let him know the dead of his tribe could finally rest in peace. Kagome had not been with them, vanished from his life - their lives - as abruptly as she had entered, apparently more bound to the jewel than any of them. There had been a strangely bittersweet tolerance for the situation in the hanyou's scent.

Well, if Dog-shit could live with it, so could he.

At least, that's what he had told himself at the time - before he had realised that Naraku's death, the jewel's destruction, Kagome's disappearance, wasn't the end of it. Naraku's first strike against him had destroyed the warriors of the Northern Den, and with that loss, the clan had collapsed. Later, the Southern Den had been reduced to a tribe of inexperienced youngsters, and the Western Den, limited to the elderly and the very young, had finally been destroyed, only a single boy and his even younger brother surviving. While he had been obsessed with avenging the dead, he'd forgotten to protect the living. By the time he had lost his shards to Naraku and returned to gather his people, almost nothing of their once glorious tribe had remained.

Naraku's legacy, the bitter truth that was laced into the air every time it stirred; the origins of his tribe's decline in fortunes had begun with a single swipe of a fan. The wind that had once been an ally of his nose no longer felt quite so friendly, even now, years after that bitch's death. As long as the wind still blew, he'd never forget.

But that wasn't true, either, was it? Would Naraku ever have taken an interest in his tribe if he hadn't felt the need to use jewel shards to claim clan leadership? Was the ultimate fate of the tribe, as Kai had once accused, his fault alone?

Three years on, and Kouga still couldn't fully answer that question. He only knew that he, his tribe, was trapped in the moment of Naraku's death. Vengeance gained should have allowed them to move on - but the bastard had left too much chaos behind. The mountains were rife with the many thousands of youkai that had escaped the destruction of Mount Hakurei. It would be years before the balance was restored to the land.

His tribe weren't the only ones so reduced. Although he knew the hanyou and his monk-friend were still hunting the youkai, they did so alone. They had lost Kagome to whatever strange fate had bound her, and they had lost the youkai exterminator as well - to motherhood, of all things. The boy, her brother, was pulling his weight, but it wasn't quite the same: the last of the slayers was still only an apprentice, wandering the countryside trying to obtain the knowledge his ancestors could no longer teach him. Kouga remained dubious about Naraku's former puppet - there were some very strange rumours circulating about that boy's training. It wasn't any of his business, however. He had more important concerns.

For three years, it hadn't felt like his tribe was living at all. It felt like they were simply surviving.

Kouga shook his head savagely. Revenge had been successfully obtained, so how could it feel like the bastard had actually managed to have the last laugh?

`Kouga!'

`Were you in time?'

He didn't turn to face his companions as they finally caught up to him. He didn't even answer them. What was the point? The bastards that did this were gone, and the wind was mocking his attempts to follow.

His right fist curled into a ball, a heavy, useless weight at his side. What was the point of possessing Goraishi if there was no-one to use it on?

They were whispering behind him, soft words on the edge of hearing. His fangs ground together. Did they have to be so annoying? `Are you cowards?' he snarled. `Just say it!'

One of them gulped. The other shifted uncomfortably. `We just thought you should know…'

`…our sister…'

`…Kagome's back!'

`Heh,' Kouga's chin sank into his chest and his eyes closed. They were trying to cheer him up, but the silence was too loud, too tense. He could easily tell what they weren't willing to say. `She's married Dog-shit, hasn't she?'

The silence stretched on. Kouga's left hand joined his right in a tight ball by his side. Perfection was only obtained through the measured worth of even the tiniest flaws that gave something, or someone, character. Unfortunately, Kagome's flaw had been her taste in men. Kouga lifted his head and opened his eyes, gaze drifting over the ruined bodies of his tribe-mates, and onwards to find the sky and the looming clouds. It didn't feel like it, but perhaps it was a blessing. His initial interest had been practical enough, but she had won him over with her strength of personality and her virtue. Even so, as a human, she would only ever have been accepted as his wife if she'd been able to offer the tribe something of value. With the jewel completed and vanished from this world, her ability to sense the shards was no longer of any worth to the tribe. Her formidable miko powers would be regarded more as a burden than a boon to the youkai that would have been her companions. He'd had three years to realise that making her his wife would have been a miserable fate for her - and causing her misery had never been of interest to him.

All he could hope for in this life was that the hanyou didn't screw up and make her unhappy. In the next life…

Well, maybe then things could be different.

He glanced over his shoulder. They were still nervous. `What else?' he demanded, realising the bad news hadn't ended yet.

`Well…'

`That dog's been sniffing around again.'

Kouga's tongue clicked in annoyance. Dog territories were usually in the south and west, but one had decided to travel east some years back. He was probably an outcast of some kind - Kouga couldn't think of any other reason for him to still be hanging around this place. He hadn't even tried to claim any territory off the resident youkai, which made his true purpose for being here a mystery. There had been rumours that he'd been searching for something which had brought him into conflict with Naraku, but that didn't necessarily mean anything - Naraku had come into conflict with everyone.

However, rumours that the dog had some kind of personal interest in the apprentice slayer's training were odd enough to make Kouga wonder.

`As long as all that bastard does is sniff,' he replied dismissively. `I don't have time…'

The explosion that drowned out his words rocked the very earth he was standing on. There was a roar as the collapsed ridge shattered further.

`What the…!'

`Kouga!'

`Come on!' Kouga broke into a run that his companions were hard-pressed to keep up with. Even without the shards, Kouga had a talent for speed.

The wind had finally shifted in his favour. He could smell the battle taking place in the valley beyond a distant ridge. He could smell the blood and the youki, the stench of shouki in the air, and the scent of the bastards that had murdered his companions.

He could smell wolves.

He had no intention of allowing another wolf to be slain. He would be damned to hell before he allowed another soul of his people to be lost to the other world while the living tribe withered away into memory. This time, he'd arrive on time. This time, he'd save his kin. This time, those murdering bastards would die.

The fight was over before he could arrive. He could tell it as he pushed his tiring legs beyond their natural endurance, as he forced more air into his burning lungs for that last surge that would allow him to crest the ridge and dive for the throats of his enemies. He knew that before he skidded to a stop, surrounded by a cloud of dust and shouki so thick he couldn't see the cliff edge that was a mere two feet from his toes.

But this was his territory, and he could navigate these mountain paths blind if he had to. Even as the smog cleared, he was already facing the direction he needed to charge in to reach his target. Just as soon as his prey became visible, he'd kill them. He'd avenge the loss of yet more members of his tribe. He wouldn't rest until every single member of the living tribe was as safe as the dead had become on the day that Naraku had been defeated. He was, after all, now a master at picking up the pieces of his tribe.

He just wished he could stop them from shattering in the first place.

The scene of devastation that met his finally cleared gaze was both expected and unexpected. There was blood, guts, torn earth and ravaged trees, the familiar aftermath of battle that he had begun to see even in his sleep. And yet what lay battered and torn, ground into the earth with the right to live forever stolen away, was not what he had feared to find.

As grey as avenging spirits, the wolves stood tall, strong and proud, bloodied muzzles lifted and quivering with expectation. At their feet, the murderers lay vanquished.

As if on some unspoken command, they surged forward, racing with the grace and strength of the mountain-born to vanish into the trees beyond, and it was only well-honed instinct that made Kouga lift his eyes towards the sky.

For one brief moment, as he squinted against the sun that had broken through the clouds, he thought he could see the form of a wolf-youkai. Shadowed, undefined, the figure hung there, poised for only a second before sinking into the depths of the forest, vanishing from his gaze and leaving only the scent of a woman behind.

He didn't immediately recognise the scent, and he couldn't think of any woman of his tribe who possessed the strength to defeat the enemy that had led him on such a chase for the past several days. Even as his own companions finally reached his side, he was launching himself off the cliff, and giving chase to hers.

He didn't know what he'd do once he caught up with her, but he'd worry about that when he found her. All he knew was that there was at least one female left that was capable of protecting the tribe and avenging the dead. Even if she was the only one, that meant hope for his people and their future hadn't yet died completely - the first hope in three years that there was life after Naraku, still life after Kagome.

The first hope that there was a chance for life at all.

 

 

 

FIN.