InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Mika- the Inu Ookami Hanyou ❯ The Attack of the Bandits ( Chapter 2 )

The Attack of the Bandits

 

Feudal Era Japan: After Kagome Broke the seal of Inuyasha

 

The night before Mika's arrival, Sango, Miroku, Shippo and Kagome stared into a fire, in Feudal Era, Japan, while fish were cooking on sticks over the flame. “Why do I have to go back to my own time tomorrow? Mom is being so unreasonable!” Kagome whined as the fish cooked.

 

Sango asked, “What's going on Kagome? You've been agitated about something since you came back four days ago.” She unconsciously petted Kirara as she waited for the response.

 

Kagome looked deeply into the flame, searching for an explanation. “Mom asked that I be home for an important surprise guest. She's been cleaning the house for the last few days after she got a mysterious phone call late last week. I'm guessing that by the way that Mom and Grandpa are fretting about the shrine it must be an investor or travel agency who wants to make the shrine an even more popular tourist attraction. Why I have to be there is beyond me. But I said I would.” She grabbed a cooked fish and began to dig into the flaky flesh.

 

“To me, it sounds like a reasonable request,” Sango replied.

 

Miroku agreed with Sango as he also dug into the fish. From a little ways off, Inuyasha said, “I don't like the idea of having to wait longer to find Naraku's Heart. The more time he gets ahead of us, the harder it will be to find it.”

 

Kagome sighed as she replied, “I know. I feel the same way, but this came up all of a sudden. You know, looking back at the past few weeks at home, I do remember Grandpa receiving a phone call about my Aunt Ayame passing on. I wonder if that has anything to do with this request to come home early. I could be wrong.” She curled up on her sleeping bag, letting her thoughts travel the gauntlet of what the request meant and desire to get out of it. The others fell asleep shortly after Kagome, each deep into their own thoughts and dreams as they slept.

 

Early the next morning, Kagome awoke and asked Kirara to fly her back to the Bone-Eater's Well, the passage between Feudal Era Japan with Modern Japan. She'd grabbed her huge backpack and climbed onto the two-tailed cat's back. Before Kirara took off, Inuyasha grasped Kagome's hand.

 

“Be careful. I'm getting an uneasy feeling and don't quite know how to explain it. I just want you to be safe,” he said, despite his gruff exterior, concern pouring through his voice.

 

Kagome thought, “Man, this is not quite like him. I wonder what's got into him.” Regaining her composure, she replied, “Thanks Inuyasha, but I'll be fine. I'll be back shortly. Hopefully I can sneak away and get back here quickly. Who knows?” She let his hand go as Kirara leapt into the air and flew toward the well.

 

A short while later, after Kirara returned to the group, Inuyasha began to fret more and more, making even the others nervous, and a little annoyed. “Inuyasha, why don't you go with Kagome and put us all at ease. Your impatience is beginning to wear on my nerves,” Miroku commented.

 

Sango replied, “I agree with Miroku. We'll be fine here. We're not that far from Kaede's village. I'm sure we can make it there before you two get back. I'm almost positive Kagome would like to have company that isn't too much of a surprise.”

 

“Besides, I think you'll finally get out of your system whatever it is that's causing you to fuss about,” Shippo piped in.

 

Inuyasha looked at the trio and asked, “Are you sure that you don't mind me leaving you like this?”

 

“Go!!!” all three yelled in unison. In a flash of red he was gone, not needing to be told a second time.

 

Miroku looked after Inuyasha, “I hope the uneasy feeling he's been getting doesn't come to fruition. Shippo, have you had any strange feelings lately?”

 

“I don't think so. Although, I have this deep aching hunger for some of Kaede's cooking. She makes some of the best stew I've ever had.”

 

Sango looked over at Miroku. A look of concentration crossed his face. “Miroku, what are you thinking about?”

 

“I've noticed the lack of animal and bug sounds for the last hour. I'm hoping this is not an indication of an impending earthquake. I'd prefer to be at Kaede's village shortly.” He replied ominously.

 

Sango looked around as she said, “I've noticed the lack of birds flying about. It's almost as if everything is holding it's breath in anticipation.” Just then Sango turned to Kirara and asked, “Would you get us to Kaede's village quickly please? I agree with Miroku about the impending danger.” In response to her mistress' request, Kirara mewed once and transformed back into her full-sized demon form. Sango swung on to her back first, with her Hiraikotsu hanging off one side. Miroku swung up behind her, placing his staff around her middle to hang on with. Shippo jumped onto Kirara's big furry head, holding on for dear life. In a single bound, Kirara was airborne, flying at a steady rate toward the village. Unlike her human counterparts, she'd been sensing the tension building in the ground for some time and had been relieved to be airborne.

 

 

Shortly after the big-two tailed cat leaped from the ground, it began to shiver and shake in a violent manner. As suddenly as it started, the shaking ceased. The only evidence of the minor tremor was in the bruised, battered and unconscious girl lying in a pile of broken branches, leaves and rocks. For what seemed to be hours, she laid on the bed of debris. Blood from her scalp covered her face in a sticky layer of blood and mixed with the dirt and leaves which she laid upon. Slowly and carefully, Mika awoke from the concussion induced sleep as the sounds of flies and other insects assaulted her ears. She slowly moved to a sitting position, drawing her legs closer to her body. Mika put her hand to her face. When she drew it away she saw the blood, dirt and debris.

 

“What happened, and for that matter where am I?” she thought as she looked around the clearing. Her eyes took in every tree, rock and animal in the clearing, as her brain analyzed the situation. As her thought went on “survival mode,” Mika checked her body carefully for broken bones and excessive bleeding. Other than the rather large scrape on her head, the remaining scratches were minor, nothing worse than cat scratches really. She soon realized her skirt and blouse were ruined from large rips in the delicate fabric and the ground in blood and dirt stains.

 

“I must look a fright. Hopefully I can find a creek or river nearby to wash some of this blood off with,” she thought as she slowly moved to her feet. Luckily as she tried to regain her footing, Mika stumbled a few steps, and then regained her sense of balance as well as footing. She wandered a few feet from the debris pile and found a well traveled path. Taking her chances, she followed the path, unbeknown to her, toward Kaede's village. She met no other travelers on the path as the sun began to fall onto the western horizon, leaving streaks of crimson, orange, yellow and purple across the sky.

 

As dusk fell, Mika began to smell a very faint scent of smoke. She moved toward the smell, away from the safety of the path. As she got closer to the fire, Mika began to hear voices. Suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck began to raise, similar to the hackles on a dog, sensing danger. She moved slowly, methodically from tree to tree, trying to get a clear view of the group around the fire without making a sound, a similar tactic that she was shown and had utilized for a few years while hunting with her father. Mika peered around a rather large tree to survey the scene. Before her sat four rather filthy men with their hair pulled back away from their faces. From their attire and weaponry, Mika perceived them to be either warriors or bandits of some sort. Suddenly a wave of pain racked Mika's head. Her eyes saw nothing but lights and her head felt as if it would explode. As she slowly slid to the ground, she noticed a fifth man standing over her rapidly growing limp body.

 

“Well, well, look at what we have here! This young maiden seems to have been in quite a fight and escaped, only to wind up in our camp! What joy! We will have fun tonight before we kill her,” the bandit claimed as he picked her up rather roughly, similar to a bag of rice.

 

When he entered the clearing and dropped the girl unceremoniously to the ground, the other men started to cheer and moved toward her, anticipating a relief of their forced celibacy since the last village they plundered. Before the closest bandit touched her battered and bruised arm a yell from the leader stopped him in his tracks. “I'm the leader, I should have at her first,” he roared.

 

The others looked at him in rage. “You killed the last three prisoners that we saved and we didn't get anything. This one's ours!” a slightly braver bandit yelled back as he brandished his sword toward the leader, moving in a defensive position between Mika and the leader.

 

“Do you all feel this way?” the leader asked of the group. A couple of others mumbled that they agreed with the bandit, however, they were willing to wait their turn for respect of the leader. “In that case, have at her then.” The leader turned as if to walk away from the group. Letting his guard down, the bandit stuck his sword in its scabbard and turned toward Mika. In the second it took to turn toward her, the leader cut the bandit down. Blood flowed from the nearly severed neck of the guy as he fell onto the seemingly unconscious girl.

 

Pointing at the dead bandit, the leader said, “Let this be a lesson to the rest of you. As leader, I will take the women prisoners first. Are there any objections?” The men shook their heads, giving the leader a rather wide berth as he moved toward the dead man and Mika.

 

Unobserved by the group who were focused on their leader, Mika had moved her hand onto the dead man's sword and had eased it as far from the sheath as she could without being detected. Knowing that her life depended on her actions within the next few minutes, she recalled vague, disjointed memories of what she recalled as fencing. As a result of the many knocks to her head, the memories of her past were beginning to become very faint, almost as if a mist hung over her past like a curtain. Suddenly the leader had pulled the dead man off her body and was straddled on top of her. The shock of his weight upon her body jerked her from the memories of the past into the present. Her eyes flew open in rage and fire leapt into them as well, dispelling any of the leader thoughts taking his time with this woman.

 

As he placed his hands around her neck, the leader smiled an evil, blood thirsty grin. “I'm going to enjoy taking your body against your will many, many times.” His hands slowly squeezed the slender neck, causing Mika to consider her options very quickly. With the leader's leg pinning her arm with the sword to the ground, she moved her left as close to him as he could. As the fear of death and the rage of ever deepening hatred for the bandits raged like wildfire, the nails of her left hand grew into long, claws, as well as two long strips crossed the back of her hand and fore arm as a greenish ting slowly encompassed the hand within a matter of a few seconds.

 

“Any last words, Wench?” the leader asked as he squeezed her slender neck with ever increasing presser.

 

With her last breath, Mika replied in a mere whisper, “Acid Claw.” She jerked her left hand into the leader as his hands almost crushed her windpipe. The hand moved from his soft, unprotected side, under the ribcage and into his heart. As the sulfuric acid from her hand engulfed his heart, the leader let out a horrible scream. With the momentum of the dead leader falling off her body, Mika pulled her arm from his chest and sprang from the ground with the other dead bandit's sword in her right hand. The remainder of the group pulled their swords and encircled the injured maiden. Blood ran down her left arm, dripping onto the ground as she eyed the encircling bandits.

 

The second-in-command bandit took the lead as he rushed the girl. His sword bit deep into her right shoulder, hitting her collar bone. She howled an inhuman scream of pain that carried on the still night breezes to the nearby village and surrounding areas. With a shift of position, as the bandit withdrew the sword, Mika shifted the grip of her own sword, and pulled the blade in a diagonally upward fashion, slicing him from left hip to the right shoulder. As the others saw the second bandit fall at her hands, they began to lose their nerve. This was not the easy prey they thought she was. Despite the deaths of their comrades at her hands, however, the last two decided to rush her at the same time. With the amount of energy already exerted from killing the first two men, Mika was moving on sheer animal instinct and adrenaline. Her fight or flight receptors were working overtime as her body began to take on a life of its own. As the two men rushed her, Mika whirled with her sword extended. She hit the first man at shoulder level, cleanly separating his head from his body. Unfortunately his sword found its mark in her thigh as the second sword pierced her left shoulder. With the last amount of strength in her left arm that she could muster, she grabbed the last bandit and bore her hand through his gut, burning a gapping hole through to his back.

 

For a split second, Mika thought she'd caught the scent of an animal not far from her. Turning toward the scent, she spied a young woman dressed in a black suit with pink armor. A rather large boomerang was in her hand, ready for an impending attack. The woman's eyes were wide in horror at the grizzly scene before her. Mika removed her hand from the dead bandit and slowly removed his sword from her shoulder.

 

Mika threw both swords to the ground at the woman's feet. She moved a step toward the young warrior as she held her right hand out as her left hung at her side. “Please don't hurt me. I…was…only…protecting…myself,” Mika said before she stumbled over her own feet and passed out at Sango's feet. The adrenaline rush had subsided and her body returned rapidly to its previous state of shock. Her left arm returned to normal within seconds of her passing out.