InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Lord of the West ❯ The Return of the Brown Crunchy Stuff, Part 1 ( Chapter 8 )

Yamisui: Think of Chapter 8 as a bit of a break while you digest the deluge of history, prophecies, and other confusing krapola you've had flung at you in the first seven chapters. Now we'll get back to Inuyasha, the Inu Youkai brother who isn't busy hurtling toward his doom . . .

 

. . . or IS he . . . ? (kukuku)

 

P.S. I apologize in advance for the language in this chapter, but what can I say? The crunchy brown stuff made him do it . . . ;-P

 

{+} {+} {+} LORD OF THE WEST {+} {+} {+}

 

{+} {+} Chapter 8: The Return of the Brown Crunchy Stuff {+} {+}

 

What would have been a very long and miserable trek through the snow-covered lowlands beyond the village turned out to be a one-hour trip. With Miroku and Sango riding Kirara and Inuyasha carrying Kagome on his back the pace they kept was far swifter than their first journey to Reiyama. Two years ago, it had taken them nearly an entire day of walking on foot through the marshes in the rain. Now despite the snow the group was hurtling across the terrain at Inuyasha-speed---in other words, like a bat out of hell.

 

“Inuyasha,” Kagome yelled in his ear over the wind rushing past them, “shouldn't you take it easy and go a little slower? You don't want to overtax yourself when we're relying on you to get the Jewel shard back from Sesshoumaru.”

 

Apparently feigning deafness, Inuyasha kept up his breakneck speed, though Kagome could've sworn she heard him mutter a scornful “Feh” under his breath in response to her suggestion.

 

Kirara was flying overhead, a little ways behind. Being the shrewd, sensible beast that she was she elected to watch the hanyou's back, as his haste in these cases tended to make him oblivious to more immediate threats. Miroku was seated astride her with his arms around Sango's waist---a position which seemed to suit him just fine.

 

Shippou was not with them.

 

One Hour Ago

 

Shippou: “I wanna go!”

 

Inuyasha: “No.”

 

Shippou: “But---”

 

Miroku: “No means no.”

 

Sango: (muttering under her breath) “Like that's ever stopped you . . .”

 

Miroku: *sweat drop*

 

Shippou: (clinging to Kagome's legs and wailing at the top of his lungs) “You can't go without me! Inuyasha won't last a day without someone around to talk some sense into him!”

 

Kagome: (gently) “I know you're just as worried as we are about the risk, but that risk also applies to you, Shippou. We just don't want you getting hurt.”

 

Shippou: “YOU HAVE TO TAKE ME! YOU HAVE TO YOU HAVE TO YOU HAVE TO YOU HAVE TO!”

 

Inuyasha: *claps a hand to his forehead in irritation*

 

Shippou: COME ON! LEMME COME!

 

Inuyasha: *BAM!* (punches Shippou in the head)

 

*dead silence reigns* and then . . .

 

Sango: “Inuyasha, don't you think that was too violent?”

 

Inuyasha: *glances down at Shippou*

 

Shippou: *lies on hut floor with swirlies in his eyes*

 

All present: “. . . . .”

 

Inuyasha: (breaking the silence) “Well, he's quiet now. Can we go?”

 

The Present---erm . . . the Past . . . whatever (time travel is confusing)

 

Kagome pulled her scarf up over her chin because the wind was stinging her face. They had just passed beyond the lowlands and were now navigating the more difficult terrain beyond. The area was a maze of snow-covered hills with groves of trees in between. Beyond it, according to Kagome's map, the land was flatter but covered in dense forest. Beyond the forest were the foothills, and beyond these were the mountains. Peering around Inuyasha's hair (which the cold winter wind was blowing every which way) Kagome could see the mountains from here. They looked as if they were covered in snow. She frowned, imagining the conditions that she and her friends would be forced to endure when it came to sleeping there. The closest pass leading through the mountains was extremely windy, and last time they'd been forced to use boulders for shelter. Kagome supposed that this time would be worse because they'd have to dig for the boulders to find them under all that snow.

 

That night they made camp in the shelter of a grove between the hills. Even beneath the trees the ground was covered with snow, so Inuyasha took it upon himself to dig them all a campsite. Snow scattered in every direction as his dog-like shoveling made the perimeter larger. Meanwhile, Kagome was starting a cook-fire with the meager portion of dried wood and pine cones that Miroku had collected for her. She could tell that finding dry kindling of any kind was going to be a problem.

 

Sango knelt beside her on the blanket they'd spread out over the cold earth. The demon exterminator was silent and pensive, staring down at the burgeoning flames with her strange black eyes. While Kagome watched, Sango shuddered unexpectedly.

 

“Sango, are you all right?” Kagome asked worriedly, laying a hand on the other girl's shoulder.

 

“Mm? Oh, yes,” Sango replied somewhat uncertainly, rubbing her forearms as if to stave off gooseflesh. “It's nothing.”

 

To Kagome, who was used to interpreting Inuyasha's withheld emotions, it didn't look like nothing, and she said so. Sango sighed.

 

“This is frightening, Kagome,” she admitted. “There doesn't seem to be any reason why this has happened to me. And I feel a little strange . . .”

 

“Strange like what?” Kagome asked, frowning.

 

The rings on Miroku's staff clinked softly as he shifted in his spot by the fire. He wasn't looking at Sango, but he was obviously listening intently.

 

“Well . . .” Sango hesitated, glancing at the monk for reassurance. When Miroku didn't look at her, she went on to say, “I feel . . . warm. And alive. Like my senses have been sharpened.”

 

Kagome poked at the kindling with a stick.

 

“Sango . . .” she began hesitantly, “your aura has changed. There's a weird kehai about your body that wasn't there before.”

 

A pinecone shifted, and the fire flared abruptly, scattering sparks and crackling.

 

“It resembles flames, doesn't it?” Miroku asked unexpectedly. He was gazing into the cook fire, wearing a somber face usually reserved for discussing Naraku.

 

“I---I don't know anything about that,” Sango answered, looking uneasy. “But I think I'm doing the right thing in coming along. At least, Kirara still seems to think so.”

 

Kirara, who was curled up in Sango's lap, mewed contentedly.

 

“She seems to agree,” Kagome said encouragingly. She had started a pot boiling over the fire and was now adding the ramen and its seasonings.

 

“It's all right, Sango,” Miroku said, initiating a comforting gesture but ending up patting Sango on the rump. To Kagome's dismay (and Miroku's delight) Sango didn't even seem to notice.

 

A heavy silence followed, and then Kagome paused, wooden spoon poised over the pot that she'd been stirring.

 

“Sango, do you think this might have something to do with something I've done to alter the past?” she asked, looking thoughtful. “I mean, all of this happening at once can't be a coincidence, can it? Just like the changes back home happened before I knew it, you changed overnight.”

 

Sango said nothing, pulling restlessly at the cloak over her shoulders as she always did when she was nervous.

 

“Lady Kagome,” Miroku mused, “don't forget that the true question we must worry about is the connection between the event that altered the future and Reiyama's rise to power. Though I don't make light of it, perhaps Sango's transformation and the predicted deaths of Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru are merely byproducts of the main event.”

 

A hush fell over them all as Inuyasha returned with more firewood. There was a small conical pile of snow on top of his head and two smaller piles on each shoulder. He stood there for a moment, looking down at them very grimly.

 

`Did he . . . hear that?' Kagome wondered uneasily. `After all, this must be the hardest for him, knowing that he'll die but not admitting it to himself . . .'

 

“I smell ramen,” Inuyasha declared.

 

He allowed the firewood to fall to the ground with a clatter.

 

Kagome's face contorted in frustration.

 

`And then again . . .' she thought. `Maybe he's too dense to realize how serious this is.'

 

“Well?” Inuyasha crouched down beside her, looking very much like a dog begging for scraps. “I seem to be through puking. I want some ramen.”

 

Despite Inuyasha's apparent refusal to accept the direness of the situation, everyone's spirits were low for the remainder of the evening.

 

That night they slept huddled around the fire, somber and silent . . .

 

. . . everyone except Inuyasha, that is, who as it turned out wasn't through puking.

 

{+} {+} {+}

 

For the next two days, the strange pall that had settled over the group remained. However, by the third evening they had passed beyond the hills and reached the forest, which afforded considerable relief from exposure to the wind and constantly being cold and wet. Kagome was infinitely grateful that her fur-lined parka was so heavy---it had prevented her from being soaked to the skin for the duration of their passage through the hills. That evening, seated around the campfire, she boiled more ramen and surprised everyone with a bag of plums, which in the Feudal Era were out of season and therefore unavailable. Miroku and Inuyasha were feeling lively enough to argue over the last plum.

 

“Inuyasha, you shouldn't be eating all of those---they're wasted on someone who'll just throw up afterward,” Miroku said.

 

“So? It still tastes good going down . . .”

 

Miroku sighed, looking pained at the hanyou's vulgarity.

 

“Well, at least don't eat more than your fair share,” he said.

 

“I'm not!” Inuyasha retorted, reaching for the coveted item even though his mouth was still full of his previous helping.

 

“That's your third one,” Miroku argued mildly.

 

Kagome went to hang her soaked parka on a nearby branch to dry, wisely choosing not to get in the middle of this.

 

“Feh. So? It's your fourth,” Inuyasha pointed out, using his demon speed to take the fruit before the monk could grab it. “Just because you're wearing that bland look on your face doesn't mean you're the reasonable one here.”

 

Kagome sighed and shook her head, but she actually felt relieved to hear them acting normally. Only Sango seemed quiet and withdrawn, sitting with her hands in her lap and staring absently into the fire. Kagome didn't know what to say to comfort her friend because no amount of reassurance seemed to be working.

 

“Who's counting? You're the one---” Miroku began, but he was cut off from further argument by a sudden loud popping noise.

 

It sounded very much like someone had put a microphone to a cork popping out of a bottle, and it startled all present into silence. Slowly, Kagome turned away from the campfire to see what they were all staring at. On the branch behind her, her parka had disappeared. Scuffling around in the bush below the branch was a very disgruntled-looking Shippou.

 

“Don't just sit there gawking,” he wailed, thrashing around and sending twigs flying every which way. “Get me out!”

 

Still somewhat dumbfounded, Kagome set to disentangling the Kitsune's tail and clothing from the bush and set him down on the bare ground next to her.

 

“Shippou?” Sango finally said, raising one hand to her mouth. “What on earth are you doing here?”

 

“You!” Inuyasha pointed an accusatory claw in the Kitsune's direction. “I thought I told you not to come!” Then he added, muttering out of the side of his mouth, “With that punch to the head you should've been out cold . . .”

 

Out of all of them, only Miroku didn't seem too surprised. He merely sat there cross-legged, as if he'd been expecting something like this.

 

“You used one of your leaf-magic replicas, right?” the monk asked mildly. “Knowing we wouldn't let you come, you transformed into Kagome's parka and let Inuyasha punch your double.”

 

“Yeah, that's right,” Shippou agreed, trotting over to join them.

 

“Say, you seem to know a lot about this . . .” Inuyasha said, leaning threateningly toward Miroku and glowering.

 

Miroku shrugged.

 

“It is the most prudent course to let wisdom speak for itself,” he intoned. Then he calmly took a bite of the last plum, which he had slipped away from Inuyasha when they were first distracted by Shippou's appearance.

 

“So . . . um, Shippou? I was wearing you all that time?” Kagome asked, coming to sit down beside him.

 

“That's right,” Shippou replied as she ladled him out some ramen. (Inuyasha was eyeing the ramen-ladling process somewhat jealously.) “We sorta kept each other warm.”

 

“A most enviable position,” Miroku remarked, dabbing at plum juice with the corner of his sleeve.

 

“Er . . . oh . . .” Kagome looked somewhat unhappy.

 

“Don't be upset,” Shippou urged her around a mouthful of ramen. “I didn't mind one bit. Besides,” he added, “you smell good.” Two small circles of pink appeared on each cheek.

 

“Don't be sniffing Kagome!” Inuyasha warned, hurling his plum pit at Shippou and hitting the Kitsune in the head.

 

“Hey! Don't throw things at me!” Shippou wailed. “You should be glad I'm here! You wouldn't last one day without me!”

 

“Feh,” Inuyasha snorted, folding his arms. A vein looked close to popping in the middle of his forehead. “Right. Like you'll be a huge help if we run into a demon who wants to kill me . . .”

 

“Rough as he may sound, Inuyasha's only looking out for your safety,” Miroku pointed out. “He just doesn't want to put you in the same grave danger he's in.”

 

“Feh,” Inuyasha grumbled, turning his head to the side and looking sullen.

 

Shippou ceased rubbing at the lump on his head and sighed with an air of long suffering.

 

“Inuyasha, just admit you need me,” he said, folding his hands in his lap. “You didn't even notice we're being followed!”

 

This floored everyone, and for a moment they all just stared at the Kitsune. Shippou nodded very solemnly in agreement with himself, seeming quite pleased with the bombshell he'd just dropped.

 

“Are you certain, Shippou?” Miroku asked after a minute. “I haven't sensed anyone threatening. What about you, Inuyasha?”

 

This seemed to touch on a bit of a sore spot with Inuyasha, because he actually managed to look even sulkier.

 

“Feh,” he snorted, hands disappearing into his sleeves.

 

“Who's following us, Shippou?” Kagome asked, glancing around the area. She detected no movement in the trees, and sensed no jewel shards and no demon aura, either. There was nothing but snow-laden pines and bamboo groves for miles in every direction. “I haven't noticed anything unusual.”

 

“You wouldn't,” Shippou told her. “He's staying well out of range of your shard-sensing. But Kouga's still got his shards, all right, and he's been following us since we left the village. The wind's been carrying his scent towards us.”

 

“Kouga?” Inuyasha exclaimed. “Why the hell is he following us?”

 

“I don't know,” Shippou answered, and then filled his mouth with noodles.

 

While he chewed, Miroku rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful. “If Shippou says he's been following us since we left the village, then he might have sensed Hakudoushi's presence the night Kagome's shard was stolen. He might be following us, thinking we've found a lead to the location of Naraku's heart.”

 

“But why is he keeping his distance, then?” Kagome asked. “Usually he barges into our midst without hesitation, asks what we know, and then tries to hit on me before he leaves.”

 

“Feh,” Inuyasha snorted. From within the depths of his sleeves they could all hear his knuckles cracking at the mention of Kouga hitting on Kagome. “He must've sensed Sesshoumaru's kehai as well, and he's too scared to get near us because he doesn't want to run across the Lord of the Assholes.”

 

Kagome shrugged, sipping at the tea she carried in her thermos. “Just as well for him, since he has shards in his legs and Sesshoumaru seems to be after the Jewel now.”

 

“What d'you mean, `just as well for him'?” Inuyasha said, rounding on Kagome. “Don't tell me you're worried about that whiny wolf!”

 

“Have some more ramen,” Kagome told him, passing him another bowl with air of long experience. Inuyasha took it, and calmed down immediately as he started shoveling it into his mouth.

 

“So now we know Kouga's following us,” Miroku said. “But that still doesn't explain why Shippou smelled him but Inuyasha never caught his scent.”

 

Shippou glanced at Inuyasha somewhat nervously. The Kitsune's eyes were wide as saucers but his mouth was safely stuffed with ramen. Fortunately for Shippou, Miroku answered his own question.

 

“Ahhh . . . that's it,” the monk exclaimed, nodding sagely. “Inuyasha couldn't smell Kouga. Somehow his illness is affecting his nose. That also explains why he couldn't smell Shippou, who was disguised as Kagome's parka.”

 

“Speaking of which,” Kagome interrupted. “I don't have a parka to wear now. I'm going to be freezing once we hit the mountains.”

 

“Right,” Inuyasha agreed, turning to staring pointedly at Shippou (who rapidly filled his mouth with more ramen). “You heard her, Shippou. She needs a par-ka, and you're going to make sure she has one.”

 

Because his cheeks were full like a chipmunk's the Kitsune could only blink in reply.

 

{+} {+} {+}

 

That night, they slept huddled around the fire as usual.

 

Or, rather, four of their number slept.

 

“You're still awake, aren't you, Sango?”

 

Sango, who was lying with her back to the fire, opened her eyes.

 

“Yes,” she answered softly.

 

Inuyasha was staring at her from across the smoldering embers, where he sat cross-legged keeping watch. His expression was unusually grim.

 

“You aren't sleeping,” he observed. “At all. Not since the first day, when you woke up changed.”

 

Sango was silent for so long that Inuyasha thought she wasn't going to reply.

 

“No,” she finally said with a sigh, “I'm not. I haven't needed to.”

 

“Like a demon,” Inuyasha murmured, frowning. “As far as I know, Youkai can go for almost a week without any sleep. And that's just me . . .” Privately, Inuyasha was thinking, `Who knows if Sesshoumaru ever sleeps . . . creepy bastard . . .'

 

“I wonder if this is what being a demon feels like,” Sango whispered, staring absently at Kirara, who was sleeping curled up atop Hiraikoutsu. “I feel restless, like there are winds shifting all around me, urging me to move. Only I don't know where . . . I feel like I should control those winds, drawing them to me, gathering them into my flesh . . . until I can't contain them any more . . . and they burst from me in all directions, and the world feels the power of my being . . .”

 

Inuyasha's head lowered, so that his long white bangs hid his face.

 

“That's pretty close to it,” he agreed softly. “It's like this weird longing to draw everything into you . . . so close to you that it shatters and becomes your own.” He paused, thoughtfully, and then said, “When I become a full-blooded demon . . . I'll be able to control the winds of demon energy like that. I'll wield powers like the Wind Scar---but I won't need a sword to do it.”

 

“I feel it, too,” Sango murmured worriedly. “I understand, now, why the demons I've hunted take such joy in destruction.”

 

Inuyasha's brow knitted with concern.

 

“You have changed,” he told her. “I couldn't smell any difference in your scent because I'm sick, but neither did Shippou, and he's the one who caught Kouga's stench. That means you're still the same person. But what you just told me . . . it's something only demons can understand . . . Which makes me think that whatever this is, it's changed your soul, not your body.”

 

Beneath the blankets, Sango hugged herself as a shiver ran down her spine. But she wasn't cold---not at all. In fact, since she had woken up changed there was a constant heat circulating just beneath her skin, as if it were running through her blood.

 

“If my flesh hasn't changed, then why are my eyes like this?” she whispered.

 

Inuyasha was silent for a while.

 

“I don't know,” he finally answered. “But whatever this is, it happened after Sesshoumaru stole the Jewel, so we'll fix it when we get the shard back.”

 

After this Sango didn't speak again. Inuyasha left her alone, though he knew that she wasn't sleeping. He regarded her back for a while, wearing a puzzled frown and wondering what she might be thinking after what she'd just admitted. It was something he knew all too well, and something that weighed upon him very heavily despite his desire to become a full-blooded demon.

 

He sighed, weary of that particular issue, and glanced over at Shippou, who was asleep in the crook of Kagome's elbow. The Kitsune was right about one thing: they did need him. Inuyasha scowled because this irked him to no end.

 

`In a way,' he pondered, `all of this is my fault, after all. If my sense of smell hadn't been off four days ago, I wouldn't have fallen into Hakudoushi's trap. I would've smelled that the one I followed was a golem sent to trick me. Kagome never would've been lured away from us and Sesshoumaru never would've taken the Jewel fragment.'

 

Kagome made a soft noise and shifted in her sleep. Shippou's mouth fell open and he began to snore.

 

`Because I couldn't protect Kagome I got us all into this mess,' Inuyasha thought, looking at her. `But I can't keep worrying about that. There are more important things to figure out . . . Like: what does Sesshoumaru want with the Shikon fragment?'

 

In truth, however, Inuyasha had a horrible gut feeling that he already knew.

 

{+} {+} {+}

 

The end of the third day began with a brilliant dawn, streaming light over the hills and through the pass; stretching fiery lines over the snow-covered garden surrounding the Inu Youkai palace. The skies had temporarily cleared, and the snow had ceased for a time---at least until the mountain of gray clouds building up just beyond the valley crested the ridge.

 

The Seer stood on the terrace overlooking the garden, utterly still. She wore only her dark blue robes---she had given up wearing the veil, and for some reason the sight of her in the black fur cloak seemed to make the demon lord angry. She watched the sunrise grim-faced and tight-lipped, and as it rose her heart sank.

 

Time had run out for the Tatesei.

 

Whatever they chose: betrayal or loyalty . . . Lord Sesshoumaru would find a way to take what he wanted and then destroy them. The Seer wasn't exactly certain what it was that he wanted from them, but the fact that he hadn't used Irusei's attack as a motive to destroy them immediately indicated that he had further use for them.

 

“Come, Seer.”

 

The Seer stiffened; she had not sensed the demon lord's presence as he stepped out onto the terrace behind her. He brushed past her, moving out of the shade and into the morning. Silhouetted against the garden, his clothing and white hair were so bright that it hurt to look at him. The Seer shielded her eyes with both hands as he walked across the sparkling snow. His feet, unlike those of mortals, did not sink into the deep drifts.

 

“You want me to go with you?” the Seer asked, frowning against the brightness. “Aren't you afraid I'll allow myself to be captured? My brother won't be the only one wanting to reclaim me.”

 

Sesshoumaru kept walking. Still the Seer remained on the terrace.

 

“Aren't you afraid I'll betray you?” she called after him.

 

The demon lord paused atop an arched bridge spanning a stream. He glanced backward over one shoulder, white hair fluttering in the breeze.

 

“You won't,” he said calmly. “Because you hate them, too.”

 

Suiton's first instinct was to deny it . . . but she was pervaded by a sudden keen awareness of the truth in this.

 

The Tatesei claimed to revere her, but had made her a prisoner in their Temple; a slave to their greed for knowledge. And she, in her bitterness, feared the forces the dragon might unleash more than she feared the fate that awaited her people.

 

That a murderer and a monster should understand her so clearly was both frightening and shameful at once.

 

In this moment, the Seer truly hated Sesshoumaru.

 

But she stepped out into the snow and stumbled out to join him on the bridge. Then he turned and began moving westward, and she followed him.

 

She had resolved long ago not to weep for the doom of Reiyama.

 

{+} {+} {+}

 

Inuyasha and his friends set out early in the morning under a bleak winter sky. Overhead, the clouds were proceeding southwest, heading for the mountains. Kagome observed that it looked like they were heading into a storm, to which Inuyasha didn't reply. He just pressed his lips together grimly and increased his speed. They would reach the mountains by nightfall, if he had anything to say about it.

 

“Hey, Inuyasha, maybe you should slow down?” Kagome's parka suggested.

 

“No,” Inuyasha replied immediately.

 

“Inuyasha!” Miroku called from atop Kirara. “Perhaps we should---”

 

“No,” Inuyasha repeated. “We have to keep moving. Kagome's right about the storm, and I don't want to have to fight Sesshoumaru in a blizzard. It'd be like camouflage for that albino freak.”

 

“But Inuyasha, there's---”

 

“Shut up,” Inuyasha snapped. “I don't take orders from clothing.”

 

Kagome's parka had sprouted a pair of saucer-like eyeballs, both of which were now fixed on something behind them. Noting the eyeballs' focus, Kagome craned her neck to see what Shippou was talking about. The sun reflecting off the snow was nearly blinding, but even as she turned her head Kagome realized what it was.

 

She sensed the Jewel shards immediately.

 

Two of them.

 

Seconds later, she was able to see the whirlwind approaching.

 

Inuyasha turned just in time to get a face full of snow scattered by the whirlwind's passage through the drifts. Then the whirlwind's rotation slowed and it vanished altogether to reveal the wolf demon crouching in its midst.

 

“Hey! What the fuck!” Inuyasha bellowed, spewing snow.

 

“Hey, Kagome, long time no see!” Kouga called out in greeting.

 

“Er . . . it's only been two weeks,” Kagome said, peering out from behind Inuyasha's ice-encrusted hair.

 

“Whaddya want, wimpy wolf?” Inuyasha demanded, balling both hands into fists.

 

“That's what I'm here to ask you, mutt-face!” Kouga announced.

 

“Whaddya mean by that?” Inuyasha asked, one fist lingering near Tetsusaiga's hilt. “You're the one following us.”

 

“I've only been following you because I thought you'd be useful,” Kouga retorted, jabbing a finger level with Inuyasha's chest. “But you're just leading me on a pointless trek through this god-forsaken country!”

“USE me, EH?” Inuyasha's right hand closed around Tetsusaiga. “We'll see about THAT. I'll---”

 

Kouga cracked his knuckles, settling into a rather bulldog-like stance.

 

“You'll what?” he sneered.

 

“Hey! If you two are going to fight, put me down first, Inuyasha!” Kagome insisted.

 

Temporarily, Inuyasha's expression lightened.

 

“Oh, right,” he said, crouching lower so that she could step down off him.

 

The instant both of Kagome's feet plopped into the snow, however, Inuyasha was all business again.

 

“Now where were we?” he asked, grinning fiercely.

 

“Wait, Inuyasha!” Kagome cried, taking hold of the hanyou's elbow. “Just because I got down doesn't mean you should fight!”

 

But Kouga, noting Inuyasha's grip on Tetsusaiga's handle, seemed to think better of it and jumped back in a hurry.

 

“Hey, wait, I didn't come here to waste time brawling,” the wolf demon explained hastily, waving both hands to indicate a truce. “I caught that creepy Hakudoushi's scent five days ago and followed it. He led me to you, and then he disappeared. But then you started traveling, and fast, so I thought you were on his trail.” Kouga folded his arms, looking bored. “But I should've known that your sense of smell would just lead you on some pointless trip to the western mountains.”

 

“Wait,” Kagome told him, surreptitiously stepping between the two Youkai to ensure that they didn't resume their fight. “What do you mean, `pointless'?”

 

“Heh, just what I said,” Kouga snorted. “Pointless. Those mountains you're headed for can't be crossed. For a long, long time they were protected by these weird nets with bones hanging in them.” He paused, rubbing at the furry wrist-guards he wore. “Makes my fur bristle just THINKIN' about it. Me and my clan moved on from THERE in a hurry. Why the hell are you following a scent THERE? Have you got stinkweed up your nose?”

 

“Feh.” Inuyasha's hand moved away from Tetsusaiga. “The nets are gone now, wimpy wolf, so don't wet yourself in fright.”

 

“Now that territory belongs to Inuyasha's brother, Sesshoumaru,” Miroku interjected. He had come down to join them, prudently sensing that conflict might ensue. Kirara had alighted several feet away with Sango on her back. “It's protected under his dominion.”

 

“No kidding?” Kouga rubbed at his arms again, apparently as intimidated by the prospect of braving a Sesshoumaru-infested mountain pass as he was by the spirit-web wardings the Wise had once constructed to guard their valley. “Either way, Inuyasha, if you're gonna head in there do Kagome a favor and don't drag her along. That place is cursed, no matter who's guarding it.”

 

“Yeah, whatever,” Inuyasha said dismissively, looking somewhat bored. “It's not the valley that's cursed---it's the people living in it.”

 

Kouga looked pensive for a moment---a look that was quite unusual for him.

 

“My grandfather told me that the highest peak in those mountains was called `Reiyama' long before those Tatesei bastards picked that name for their city. Youkai named it that, and kept far and clear of it, because everyone who encounters it says that it's haunted by a powerful spirit that hates demons. And lately . . . there's been the scent of blood and metal around that valley . . .” He paused, seeming to shake himself out of his reverie. “Anyway, take my advice and stay the hell away from there. For Kagome's sake at least . . .”

 

“We're going,” Inuyasha insisted. “So get lost.”

 

But Kouga ignored him and grasped hold of both Kagome's hands, pulling her close.

 

“Kagome, are you really gonna let that mutt-face drag you into danger like that?” he asked, in tones far more romantic than the words he was using.

 

“Er . . . it's not a matter of me letting him take me,” Kagome argued, surreptitiously trying to disengage her small hands from the wolf demon's large ones. “I chose to---”

 

Kouga's expression darkened.

 

“What, he's forcing you to go?” Turning to Inuyasha and superimposing his body in front of Kagome's, he declared, “I can't allow this! I won't stand for it this time!”

 

“Oh, shut up,” Inuyasha grumbled. “You know, just for that I think I'll kick your ass.” The hanyou advanced on the wolf demon, cracking his knuckles ominously.

 

“Just try it, dog turd!” Kouga barked back, starting an advance of his own.

 

“Oh, great,” Kagome muttered worriedly. At this point she knew she'd just have to let this thing run its course, because it seemed that where Reiyama was concerned Kouga wasn't going to take no for an answer. She had never seen him so serious about separating her from Inuyasha . . . well, with the exception of the first encounter, when he'd kidnapped her and hauled her off to his den . . .

 

True to her assessment of the wolf demon's mentality, it was Kouga who attacked first. He flew at Inuyasha, aiming a kick at the hanyou's head. Inuyasha sidestepped just in time, simultaneously dodging the blow and landing a blow of his own to Kouga's lower back. But Kouga whirled and landed a right straight to Inuyasha's jaw. The hanyou went down hard, but fortunately the snow cushioned his fall and he was back on his feet in a flash.

 

“Heh! You're slow today!” Kouga taunted him, rubbing at his back. “What's the matter, mutt-face? Feeling faint? Or is it too hard to fight me man-to-man instead of drawing that sword of yours?”

 

Inuyasha's face darkened.

 

“Now he's done it,” Kagome's parka remarked in hushed tones.

 

END OF CHAPTER 8, PART 1