InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Kuro no Fuyu ❯ A Bleak Situation ( Chapter 1 )

~*~Hey everyone! Yes I’m still alive, sorry I disappeared for a while but I had a bit of bad luck with the floppy disc I use to keep my stories stored. Some how it got formatted to another computer system, I asked my computer teacher to help fix it, and every story that I had stored in the floppy disc was erased. Including this story which I had to retype, that and I had school work to keep up with.~*~   I do not own Inuyasha   Authors Note: This is the sequel to my story Shiori no Yoru (Translation: White Night), so you have to read that before this so you don’t get a little confused.   Oh, and for those who did read Shiori no Yoru, its sequel Kuro no Fuyu while being a bit more in depth will also be MUCH longer.   ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~   Kuro no Fuyu   Title Translation: Black Winter   Chapter 1: A Bleak Situation                &n bsp;  Inuyasha grimaced, clutching his side were a wound was bleeding freely; other cuts were on his body. He shielded his eyes from the blowing wind and snow with his hands as best he could and tried to see through the snow blowing around him, behind him a dark haired girl carrying a large yellow back pack stood, hoping to find a shelter of some kind before the blizzard got any worst. Kagome looked at the wound on Inuyasha’s side and then to his face which was becoming pale, from lose of blood, the cold or both. Kagome sighed remembering what had gotten them into the current situation, Kagura the wind sorceress had attacked them, and unlike the other times they had fought her the battle had turned from them winning to them losing with a very bad turn out.   ~*~Flashback~*~         &nbs p;     Kagome laid in her sleeping bag trying to fall asleep, little Shippo was curled up next to her. In the corner of the room the monk Miroku slept sitting up with his back on the wall and his staff resting on his shoulder, the demon slayer Sango was asleep in the opposite corner as far away from the groping monk as she could, her demon fire cat Kirara curled up next to her. By the door sitting up with the Tetsaiga laying on his shoulder was the Hanyou Inuyasha, he was sleeping but was awake enough to where if something attacked he could jump up ready to fight.         &nbs p;     She sighed turned on to her back looking at the ceiling of the hut, it was lucky they had found it, Kagome wasn’t in the mood to sleep on the hard ground after lugging that heavy back pack all day. Everyone had been so drained from the long walk and grueling pace that Inuyasha had made them walk that day that they had taken to their beds a little early she sighed and shivered as the cold from outside blew in from the creaks of the huts walls, she hated winter out of all four seasons.   Spring was the season of flowers and cool breezes, Summer was warm days and nice weather nearly everyday and no school, Fall was a little cold but the beauty of the yellow, red, orange and brown leaves made up for it. But cold depressing winter was full of ice and cold snow, while it was nice to watch the snow fall from the inside of the house and see it shimmer in the sunlight. Kagome wished it could be less freezing.         &nbs p;     Suddenly she heard Inuyasha jump up from his place near the door; Kagome sat up and looked over at him. He was sniffing the air trying to identify whatever had woken him, he growled. “Inuyasha?” she asked getting out of the bag waking Shippo in the process, “I smell Naraku’s scent” he said unsheathing his sword and running outside. Kagome quickly grabbed her bow and arrows and woke Sango and Miroku. They ran outside to see Kagura fly over to them on her feather, at least it wasn’t Naraku. Kagura and Kanna having Naraku’s scent made it hard to tell if it was Naraku coming or one of his incarnations.         &nbs p;     Kagura landed and the feather returned to her hair, she opened her fan and smiled wickedly at the group. “So what do we have hear?” she asked fanning her face softly with her fan, “What do you want Kagura!?” Inuyasha growled holding his sword out in front of him in a menacing way, Miroku had his staff at the ready as did Sango with her bone boomerang, Kirara was transformed and Shippo was hiding in a nearby tree out of harms way. “I come with a warning from Naraku” she said and lifted her fan in the air, Inuyasha charged at her but she threw her fan down “DANCE OF BLADES!”.   Her wind blades slammed into him cutting into his flesh and throwing him into the old hut, the hut fell apart on top of him on contact burying him in rotten wood. “Inuyasha!” Kagome called, the Hanyou pulled himself out of the pile of wood and yanked his sword out as well, before he could move he fell to his knees. Kagome saw the rips from the wind blades in the fire rat robe, blood was starting to ooze from the cuts, but the wound he was clutching was what worried her. In his side was a large piece of wood that had stabbed into him when he was buried, the wood was already beginning to be colored red from blood.   Miroku and Sango came at her next with Kirara ahead of them Kagura laughed and brought her fan down again, the winded circled forming a giant tornado. Kagura took her feather out and flew into the air away from the tornado, “His warning is to give up the shards you have, or DIE!” said say laughing and flying away. Shippo ran down from the tree and to Kagome who scooped him up in her arms, Kagome felt strong arms wrap around her and push her to the ground to cover her from flying rocks and up rooted trees. Kagome looked to see claws on the hands of who was holding her <Inuyasha>, “EVRYONE GET AWAY FROM THAT THING!” Inuyasha yelled through the wind howling from the tornado.   Sango climbed onto Kirara and helped Miroku on before flying into the air, Inuyasha picked up Kagome and ran as fast has his demon speed would allow him. But the tornado was faster and grabbed Sango, Miroku and Kirara first in its winds before ripping Inuyasha, Kagome and Shippo from the ground. Kagome cling to Inuyasha and held little Shippo close, Inuyasha’s hand shot out to grab Miroku, who grabbed Sango who was holding a now un transformed Kirara in her arms. “DON’T LET GO OR WE’LL GO FLYING!” Kagome yelled, the wind picked up and Miroku, Sango and Kirara went flying to the South, Shippo was ripped from Kagome’s arms and sent flying in the same direction as the others.   Inuyasha clutched Kagome close to her as the wind threw them next, sending them hurling to the North, they landed hard into the ground making Inuyasha wince from the wound in his side and from the deep cuts on him. Kagome got up trying not to hurt him; he got up off the ground leaving the snow under him dyed red. He grabbed the wood and pulled it out and threw it into the snow, “Are you okay Inuyasha?” Kagome asked looking at the bleeding wound, “I’m fine it’ll be gone by tomorrow, we have worst problems right now” he said sniffing the frosty winter air and growling, “A blizzard is heading towards us, we better find shelter” he said and began walking. Kagome followed hoping that they would find shelter before the storm hit, or else they would be out in a blizzard with no kind of protection from it what so ever, her back pack being left behind at the now collapsed hut.   ~*~End of Flashback~*~           ;                     Luck had not been with them however since the blizzard had hit harder then Inuyasha had said and a lot faster, the snow was now almost knee deep and still falling in heavy amounts. She wondered if maybe Inuyasha had gotten a slight cold that dulled his sense of smell, he had maculated the coming of the storm a great deal, unlike the many times when he could tell easily how far a thing like a rain shower or blizzard was about to hit. Aside from that she was worried about Inuyasha; his wound should have started to at least bleed less. The battle had taken place after 5:00pm at latest and they had been walking for two hours now, it was like his demon ability to heal was turning off, not only that but he had sustained worst injuries then this so why was he so weak from these wounds? He also seemed to be getting worst with the way he was staggering around, but every time she tried to help he would tell her he was fine.             &n bsp; She sighed and looked around the area around full of trees and blowing snow and a chilling memory returned to her <This is like the time I almost froze to death…>, the incident had happened a month ago in December when the group had gone on a hunt for a Shikon Jewel Shard. At the time Sango had gone to fix her weapons and visit the graves of her friends and family, so it was just her, Inuyasha, Miroku and Shippo at the time. She and Inuyasha had lost them in the snow storm and she had submitted to the freezing temperature; she had woken up to find herself inside a small hut and on a bed of straw with Inuyasha sleeping beside her curled up keeping her warm. Then she blushed at the memory of him kissing her, was it just because she was rubbing his ears at the time that he did that?             &n bsp; Inuyasha had never spoken of that incident since then, was it because at the time he was still half asleep and was regretting his actions? Or was it a hint that not even he wanted to give out of something much more, something he was hiding from her. She didn’t dare to hope that he had feelings for her; every time she did he would go running off to Kikyo and leave her waiting for him to return. And when he did it would be the same routine, she would get upset and get teary eyed. Inuyasha would panic and ask what was wrong, then Shippo would call him a two timing jerk and Inuyasha would throw something at the little fox demon, then she would get mad a “sit” him and then go to her time were she would go to school, study, hangout with her friends. All the while knowing that Inuyasha would eventually come to get her and a un spoken apology would be put into place, and the shard hunting would continue until the next time he ran off with the dead miko or Koga coming to visit her.             &nb sp; He had forgotten something he knew this but couldn’t figure out what, he knew it was something important but the cold was clogging his thoughts. Inuyasha winced as his foot hit a rock that was buried in the snow, his bare feet frozen to the point to where anything that hit it would hurt. He growled angrily of the situation they were in because of that damn Kagura, stuck out in the middle of god knows were in the middle of a blizzard, he was injured and Kagome’s back pack was still at the site of hut they had been staying at.   <How could this get any worst?!> he wondered and a memory of the last time this happened flashed through his mind, he shuttered though not from the cold. He never wanted to see Kagome in that condition ever again, not if he had anything to do with it. He blushed remembering the kiss they had shared, that is before Shippo and Miroku had found them and barged in at the wrong time. His ears drooped knowing that he had some how hurt Kagome by doing that.             &n bsp; After they had gotten the jewel shard they had set out to get and Sango returned from her village, they had returned to the village for some rest and warmth from the cold weather. Inuyasha had made no move to mention anything of there little moment back at the hut, or why he had done it to begin with. Inuyasha swallowed a growl that was ready to escape his throat; his emotions were starting to get harder to control around her. She was so close to him, she was right there rubbing his ears as if it was the most normal thing in the world, the urge to kiss her had been too strong for him to fight. He could still feel her lips on his, sweet and soft as flower petals, he knew he would not be able to hold this talk from her much longer, he felt like kicking himself for holding it off for a whole month since it happened. As he was thinking this he head started spinning, he tried to shake it away but that just made it worst. Each step was a struggle before the last of his strength was lost and he fell to the ground, his mind going black.             & nbsp;     She was brought out of her thoughts when a grunt and the sound of something falling hit her ears, she looked around an then to where Inuyasha was and her eyes widened. Inuyasha was lying in the snow; the cold around them seemed to have slowed the bleeding of the cuts and the large wound in his side. His body was already being buried by the fast falling snow, she ran over to him tripping from the now knee high snow. “Inuyasha?! Inuyasha wake up! Inuyasha can you hear me!?” Kagome called to him her voice being lost in the wind around them, she heard him groan but he was obviously unconscious. His face was too pale for her liking, it was as if someone had rubbed ashes from a fire pit on his skin, his lips were starting to turn blue and he was freezing to the touch.   She picked him up off the ground and put his arm around her neck and began walking; now they had to find shelter fast, it was plain to see that Inuyasha’s condition was getting worst and she needed to find a shelter soon. His wounds were making things worst because of the blood lost he had sustained, and it was easy to see that Hypothermia was starting to set in. Any kind of shelter would do for her right now, an abandoned hut, a cave, a shrine, ANYTHING that would shield them from the cold of the blizzard so she could tend to his injuries and get him warmed up. She tripped and fell to the snow covered ground dropping Inuyasha as well, she quickly got off the ground and picked Inuyasha up and put his arm around her neck again, she heard him moan.   “Inuyasha? Are you awake?” she asked but got no reply answering her question, she looked around the area around them seeing only white, it was starting to get late now and the sun was going to set soon. Suddenly from the corner of her eye she saw a black blob in the distance, preying that it was some form of shelter she picked up her pace and walked over to it finally reaching it. From the look on the outside it looked like a shrine, but inside the building revealed that it was an old dojo. Wooden practice swords were hung on the walls; small wood boards were nailed to the right wall with the now faded names of the dojo master and his or her former pupils. She frowned at the scratches on the walls and some of the knocked over things, it looked like something had attacked it a very long time ago. She gave a silent prayer to those killed in the attack and walked over to the front of the dojo.   Kagome gently put the Hanyou boy down and began looking around the dojo; it was a school of sword fighting right? So there had to be some kind of medicine around that she could use to fix Inuyasha’s wounds, she opened a door to what looked like the medical room that injured students were sent when hurt in class. She rummaged around drawers until she found a wooden box full of bandages, not has well as the one from her time but they would have to do, she even found some healing herbs in another drawer. Thanking her grandfather for hammering all that Feudal Era medical tips into her head, and Keade for teaching her what herbs were which she returned to the main room were Inuyasha laid still on the wood floor.             & nbsp; <First things first, the cold will kill him before the injuries will. I hope I can find a blanket; some students had to have lived at the dojo during training. I think I could use those boards on the wall and the wooden training swords for fire wood> Kagome walked over to the name boards nailed barley to the wall and yanked, the old wood gave in and came off the wall. She took the remaining boards off and took the wooden swords off the wall, she took one of the swords in her hand, she remembered the lesson Inuyasha had given her in starting a fire:   ~*~Flashback~*~     &nb sp;         “Kagome what are you doing with those things?” Inuyasha asked looking at Kagome scratch a funny little wooden stick against the box she had taken it out of, “I’m trying to make a fire, but these matches won’t light!” she said getting annoyed. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and walked over to her, “Kagome this is the past, I think its time you learned the ‘old fashion’ way of making a fire. What if you don’t have those things with you one time and you’re all alone? I’m not having you freeze if I can help it!” he said picking out a medium sized stick, Kagome saw the pink tint on his face at reveling that small bit of concern and she smiled.         &nbs p;     He took a smaller piece of wood and put it on the ground and put some dead grass on it, he took the stick he had in his hand and placed it on the grass and wood, and began rubbing his hands so the stick would rub against the grass. A little plum of smoke began to lift from the tiny pile of grass before a little flame appeared soon becoming a fire after adding more grass. “Now you try” he said handing her the stick, some grass and a bit of wood, she copied what she saw Inuyasha do but got only a little puff of smoke before it stopped. “You have to do it faster, like this” in his hast to show her property he didn’t notice he hand put his hands on hers and began rubbing the stick into the grass and wood until it became ablaze like its twin burning next to it.         &nbs p;     “Thanks Inuyasha” she said just as Inuyasha noticed his hands on hers, he removed his hands blushing as he did and turned away. Kagome simply smiled at him and went about doing what she had been planning to do with the fire, make tonight’s supper.   ~*~End of Flashback~*~           &nb sp;   There was no grass this time but this was no time to be concerned about that since she at least had wood, she rubbed the sword onto the board and smoke began to rise from the wood <Please! Please burn!> her prayer was answered when the board began to burn and become a fire. Once it was big enough she turned her attention to Inuyasha who had started shivering badly, Kagome grabbed the bandages and herbs and blushed as she removed the upper part of his fire rat robe that was dripping wet from the melted snow, <Come on Kagome! You’ve seen his chest before every other time he was wounded there! Why would this time be any different?> she scolded herself and got a look at the wounds. He had two deep gashes on his shoulders from Kagura’s attack and the wound in his side from the wood, she put the herbs on the wounds and wrapped them snuggly onto the wounds on his shoulders, then did the same with the wound on his side. She would have liked to have cleaned the wounds but she had no water or a way to boil it even if she did.             &nb sp; She looked at the two remaining wounds on his body; on his hakama were slashes were the other wind blades had cut him. Kagome blushed redder at what she had to do, <I hope he is wearing some kind of under cloths there…> she thought untying the sash that held his hakama up. Blushing more if it was possible and closing her eyes tightly shut she removed the hakama just enough so that she could get to his wounds, relieved that Inuyasha was indeed wearing a type of underclothes a loincloth, she went about treating the remaining of his injuries. <Okay, the wounds are no longer much of a problem but I have to remove his wet cloths and find something to cover him> she thought as she watched the Hanyou curl up into a ball to keep warm.             &n bsp; She ran over to another of the dojo’s rooms and found an old blanket, it looked a little worn out but it was all she could find. She returned to Inuyasha and after removing all cloths except the loincloth from him she wrapped him in the blanket wishing she could have used her sleeping bag instead; she laid out his wet cloths by the fire to dry and the looked back at the sleeping boy. He seems to calm down and had stopped shivering when she put the blanket on him, but he still would need more heat to regain his body heat faster. <I have no other choice he has to get warm> she took her coat and her upper sweater off finding that the second sweater that she had been wearing under it had not gotten wet; she kicked off her boots and peeled her wet socks off her feet and took off her thick leggings she had worn over her jeans to keep warm.             &n bsp; She blushed a bright crimson as she laid down next to him, feeling the warmth next to him Inuyasha moved closer to Kagome wrapping his arms around her trying to get as close as possible. She held her breath as he held her close, her head on his bare chest, regaining some of her composer she looked up at him. Just like the last time they were in this same situation she was looking at his slumbering face, moments like this when he was badly wounded he didn’t have the energy to stay sleeping and aware of the area around him at the same time, he was fast asleep and she knew that Inuyasha was not going to wake up anytime soon. When he had fallen asleep on her bed that one time she had been forced to sleep on the couch, she had tried to wake him up but he didn’t awaken. He did even make a move in his sleep to show that he knew someone was shaking his shoulder, when he wanted to Inuyasha could sleep like a rock.             &n bsp; A slight movement caught her eye and she looked up, Inuyasha’s dog ears had been what was moving. They were swerving around on top of his head, flicking or flattening every so often as he dreamed. Blushing as she remembered what happened the last time she did this, she reached up and ran her fingers across the fur of his ears. She heard him give a little whine as he pushed his head back into her hand as he began to purr, she bit her lip to hold back her giggles. <And he use to yell me out every time I touched his ears! I wonder…since he’s a dog Hanyou I wonder what breed of dog Inuyasha is part of. It would have to be a breed that has white fur, pointed ears and gold eyes. Not to mention a short temper, but also loyal to those around it and affectionate> as she was thinking she felt Inuyasha’s ears oddly shift in her hand and even odder it felt like the fur was disappearing.                She looked up to see and with her hand feel as Inuyasha’s ears slid down to the sides of his head, shaping into ears similar to her own. His sliver hair darkened to gray before turning totally black, he was in his human form. Now most of what had happened made sense, THIS was what she had forgotten about! It was the night of the new moon. This was why Inuyasha had been more badly injured by Kagura’s attack, this was why the wounds and the cold had gotten to him more then normal and why his sense off smell hadn't picked up the right time the blizzard would hit them. She mentally kicked herself for forgetting something as important as this just as Inuyasha crushed her to him.             &nb sp; He started breathing heavily trying to resist the pain he was feeling and buried his nose in Kagome’s hair; obviously the wounds were more painful to his human form then his Hanyou form. “Inuyasha calm down” she whispered trying to calm him down and stop his from moving around, if he kept turning and tossing as he was doing he was going to make his wounds even worst or open them from the little healing they were able to do. As she began stroking his hair trying to calm him down he opened his now violet eyes, to look into her own brown ones.             &n bsp; A look of confusion came to his face as he looked from Kagome to where ever they were now; he tried to sit up until a sharp pain through out his body made him wince. “Inuyasha your hurt you have to take it easy” Kagome whispered gently pushing him back to the floor, “Kagome? What…what happened?” he asked looking around the room again. “You passed out in the snow, I brought you hear. Um…also it seems that it’s the New Moon…” she said softy and saying the last part in a whisper knowing that it was going to throw him into a bad mood, he was always in a bad mood when his human night came, sure enough she heard him growl in annoyance just seconds after she told him.             &nb sp; <Great, I’m injured and to top it off I’m a weak human. Now I have to wait all through tomorrow to heal completely, ugh this stupid body feels pain more intensely too…> now with the questions of what happened and where they were out of his mind he focused on the next problem at hand, <How will I be able to protect Kagome if a demon or Kagura attacks again? She could have created that wind to split us up to attack us better, in my current condition theirs no way I’d be able to keep her from harm.>  he growled angry with himself. <Good damn job! Now Kagome is gonna pay for my not getting out of the way in time to dodge Kagura’s attack, most defiantly with her life if they thing attacks>   “Inuyasha is something wrong?”                He was brought out of his thoughts by Kagome’s voice, “What? No nothings wrong, why?” he asked now noticing just how close Kagome was to him and blushed. “You were growling so I just thought you were angry” Kagome said looking up at him and from the light the fire gave she noticed his flushed face, “Are…are you feeling alright? You look a little feverish” she said putting her hand on his forehead finding it cool to the touch, however it made Inuyasha blush an even darker shade of red. “I’m fine really!” <Damn human emotions! Get yourself together this is no time to go soft!> he tried to get off the bed again feeling the cold in the room bite at his bare skin, biting back the pain that screamed from his wounds he half way stood up before he noticed he had nothing but his loincloth on, and very quickly laid back down practically yanking the blanket back on.             &nbs p; “Um…Kagome… where are my cloths?” his voice clearly showed his discomfort at the fact that he was laying with a girl he had feelings for, and that he was laying with said girl with nothing but his under cloths on. “Um, they were all wet I had to take them off to get you warm, you were freezing when I got you here…” Kagome said blushing as the event of having to remove his cloths went running through her head, <What like you didn’t enjoy the view?> said a little voice in her head that sounded too much like Miroku for her liking. Inuyasha blinked trying to remember what had happened before he had woke up to the pain of his current injuries, <I remember the battle with Kagura; we got separated from the others. Kagome and I were looking for shelter when the storm hit, it was freezing then everything went black…>   Inuyasha looked to Kagome who was at the moment mentally shaking the voice from her head, he gave a ghost of a smile <All the times I save her, she saves me… even after I’ve been such a basterd to her from day one… > that thought made him unable to even look her in the eyes. Kagome however had come out from mentally bashing the Miroku influenced thought out of her head and was focused on the wound Inuyasha was sporting, “How are you’re injuries?” she asked gently placing a hand on one of the gashes on his shoulder, she quickly removed her hand when she saw him wince smartly from pain. “Worst then they should be by now” he said turning away so his back faced her.   “If I wasn’t in this weak human body I would have been half way healed by now, or at least be able to move around without pain” he said roughly before she heard him say in almost a soft whisper “How am going to protect you now?”. Kagome put her hand on the uninjured part of his shoulder, “Don’t worry, I don’t think anything will be out in this storm” she said absently twirling his now black hair in her fingers. She heard him sigh and snuggle closer before he went limp; worried she looked to see if anything was wrong only to find that he had fallen asleep again. Giggling at his cuteness she laid there playing with his hair until she to fell asleep           &nb sp;                 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~   ~*~Okay for everyone here I picked them finding a dojo to stay at mainly since in the show they never find or see one, that and all other Blanket fictions have them in a cave, house, hut or shrine. I wanted to do something different and original, and I did VERY heavy research on this before making their rest spot a dojo, there were dojo’s in Japan in that time period that taught swordsmen ship at that time. With all the wars going on in that time period there had to be least a few sword training schools around.~*~