InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Leiko ❯ On the Road Again ( Chapter 13 )

Chapter Thirteen

On the Road Again

 

"You can't expect me to fight in a robe!" Leiko screamed.

"You don't have anything else to wear." Garou said to his mistress.

Yamainu had learned to stay out of their arguements long ago. Satzuka hovered nearby, gazing at the wolf youkai with goo-goo eyes. Sasuke stood behind the young priestess, visibly fuming as he watched her try to woo the youkai. He was overcome by jealousy. Shadow lifted his head up, yawning sleepily.

"Can't we just go?!" he barked.

Garou whirled on him suddenly. "NO!" he snarled. "My mistress has no clothing."

"Hmph." the other wolf snorted. "I'm sure that there is one who would not object if she were naked."

Kari gave her old friend a stern stare. "Shadow, none of that." she said.

"Can't you just wear your old clothes?" Keiyo asked in misery.

Leiko slapped her forehead and sighed in frustration. "They were ruined by the bear's blood." she said.

Sango cleared her throat from the doorway. Everyone turned to look at the demon slayer. She held something out to Leiko. When the hanyou took it, she looked at Sango in amazement. The clothes were made of the bear's fur.

"How'd you...Why'd you...?" Leiko didn't know which question to ask first.

Miroku chuckled from the doorway. "Just like her father." he said. "He couldn't put his thanks into words either, but then again, he really didn't said anything nice."

Sango turned an angry glare on her husband. "Yours were ruined so I had our taylor do it as a way of thanks." she said.

Leiko took the bearskin clothes. She held out the top and smiled at it. The taylor had made it into a sort of tank top. Much to everyone's surprise and some's pleasure, Leiko shed her silk robe and pulled on the top. It was tight around her breasts and there was a bit of extra fur that fell to cover some of her stomach. Next, she took up the skirt. It, too, was short. Leiko knew it was about the same length, if not shorter, than the skirt she wore as her school uniform.

When she was dressed, Sango held out four smaller pieces of fur. She took up Leiko's wrists and slid them on for her. The other two pieces wrapped around her ankles. Leiko knew that Kouga wore something like them. She felt Kari tap her on the shoulder and accepted her sword. When it was once more in its place at her waist, she accepted her bow and quiver from Keiyo. She swung those over her shoulder and whirled to face Sango and Miroku.

They both smiled at the young woman. "Your father will kill me." Sango said.

"Wrong." Miroku said. "He would kill me for actually letting her go out like that."

"Can we go now?!" Yamainu asked.

Leiko fixed him with a stern glare, but not nearly as bad as Keiyo and Kari. Keiyo advanced on the much-larger youkai. Her spear was ready to land him a very painful blow. Garou took hold of her collar and pulled her away from Yamainu. Satzuka looked at Leiko, then at Yamainu, and back at Leiko. The look she saw past between them made her sigh to herself. How could she have been so dumb? It was obvious that she had no chance with the youkai.

"Oh well, there are more men in the world." she said to herself.

"What was that?" Sasuke asked hopefully.

"Nothing." Satzuka replied.

Shadow rose on all four and stretched. "Now we can go." he said.

"Oh wait!" Sango said suddenly.

Out of her robe she pulled a necklace with the claws of the bear. Leiko looked at the cleverly woven rope with the claws laced in. Sango held it out to the girl and she took it. When she had it resting around her neck, Leiko put the chain with the Jewel on top of it so that it gave the impression that the Jewel was laced in with the claws.

Her friends looked at her in question. "Now," she said with a smile. "We can go."

They would have cheered had they not been so happy to be on their way again. Most of the morning had been spent arguing about whether or not Satzuka and Sasuke should come with them. Of course, in the end Leiko agreed to let them come. The other delay had been Leiko's clothing.

As they moved through the village, people waved farewell but none stopped them. They walked on in silence until they were safely outside of the village. Leiko began to hum beneath her breath as they walked on. Yamainu looked over at her. She never sang before. Slowly, as everyone caught a bit of the humming, the others began to look at Leiko. When she saw everyone looking at her she stopped.

"What?" she asked. "Is my nose green?"

"No." Satzuka said.

Kari smiled at the dog hanyou. "That was nice." she said.

"Sing some more of it." Garou pleaded.

Keiyo hopped onto Garou's back so she could hear better. Shadow showed little interest in the strange song the hanyou was humming. Sasuke moved closer to Leiko, but quickly backed off when Yamainu fixed an angry glare on the young samurai. Leiko would have laughed at her friends but it only seemed normal for them to be interested in some of the things she did. After all, they weren't from her time. So she began to sing a few verses of the song.

 

On the road again

I just can't wait to get on

The road again

 

"That's really all there is to it." she said. "It just repeats those verses over and over again."

The others nodded. The dirt path they had been walking had taken into a dense wood as their paths often did. Leiko had stopped her humming now that everyone had heard the song. The silence came on once more. Suddenly, their thick silence was broken by a scream. Satzuka halted in her tracks, causing Keiyo to slam into her legs. Kari and Shadow stopped and looked towards Leiko. Leiko sniffed the air and caught a familiar scent, but she couldn't quite place it. The scream filled the air once more and Leiko didn't hesitate to find out what had caused it.

She could hear the others pounding after her. When they reached the clearing, the attacker was running off into the underbrush. A young man with spiky, black hair, brown eyes, and tattered clothing lay in the clearing. Leiko saw that his leg was all bent out of shape.

"Help me please, dear lady." he said. "A creature attacked me and I believe my leg is broken." His brown eyes stayed locked on Leiko's silver ones.

Satzuka stamped her foot in the dirt. "Why does she get all the men?!" she demanded.

"Stop being childish." Kari growled.

"It's not like she calls such attention to herself." Keiyo said.

Satzuka began to pout. "How do you know she doesn't put every handsome man under some spell?"

"Now you're being crazy." Sasuke said, shaking his head.

Leiko looked at Garou and Shadow. None of her other friends would carry the young man. She didn't dare ask Yamainu to do it because them he would be angry. Garou would have to do it. She didn't even have to utter a word. The large black wolf moved towards his mistress and the stranger. Leiko helped him lay across Garou. When he was situated, Leiko turned to take up leading again.

The man grabbed her wrist and held her in place. For that brief moment, Leiko felt a shiver run down her spine. Her heart beat changed but it went back to normal quickly. She shook her head to clear it and smiled down at the stranger.

"I'm Satourou." he said.

"Leiko" she said and moved away from him. "You'll be back in your village soon."

"Thank you, lovely lady." Satourou said and kissed her hand.

Yamainu grabbed her away suddenly. He pulled her way so abruptly that Satourou nearly fell off of Garou. Leiko glared up at the wolf youkai, pulling away and walking in the direction Satourou was leading Garou. Satzuka walked behind Leiko, pouting over not being the one that Satourou had noticed. Kari and Shadow followed behind Sasuke, who was still a bit irritated that Satzuka hadn't noticed him yet. Yamainu took up the position at the rear. He had no desire to walk beside Garou and Leiko. If he had to watch that human stare at his woman he would punch him.

As they neared the village the wind carried a foul stench to their noses. When they came to the outskirts of the village, they halted. All of them stared in disbelief. The scene before them was devastating.