InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Once Upon a Time ❯ Down Time ( Chapter 13 )

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13. Down Time  

The travelers continued north, taking their direction from subtle cues in the environment. Although there had been a huge resurgence in the activity of what they were coming to think of as “nuisance youkai,” relatively weak youkai capable of mischief on a small scale, that activity had all but disappeared. It had been nearly a week since they had seen any sign of a youkai presence.

Most youkai tended to either leave the immediate area or go into hiding when Naraku was around, perhaps because a minor kind of youkai would be in danger of being assimilated into Naraku and losing its independent existence until such time as Naraku no longer had need of it and discarded it while rebuilding himself.

Not surprisingly, Ayamae had recovered completely and frequently accompanied Kouga, Ginta, and Hakkaku on their scouting forays. She had been a tremendous help in keeping the overt hostility between Kouga and Inuyasha from erupting into open warfare.

Although it was only early afternoon, they had reached the finest campsite they had seen in days. A clear stream bubbled over a rocky bed, hinting at the possibility of fish for dinner. A short distance away the crater of an inactive volcano suggested the likelihood of a hot spring, a possibility confirmed when Shippou, exploring the immediate area, pushed through a tangle of brush and fell into the steaming pool.

Inuyasha gestured at the grassy bank of the river. “We’ve made good progress lately. Why don’t we stop here for the night?”

The others turned in surprise: usually it was the hanyou who wanted to push on until full dark. Kagome nodded and set down her bag. “That’s a great idea! We can have a nice quiet night here, and move on in the morning.”

Miroku and Sango stared at their companions, then realized that there had to be a reason for this departure from custom. Sango shook her head in disbelief. “Have we really been traveling that long?”

Kagome nodded, taking her kettle and empty water bottles to the stream to be filled. “Didn’t you notice the stars last night?”

Miroku nodded. “It’s not something I usually think about.”

Sango nodded. “That’s true enough. What’s so special about it?”

Kagome sat on the grass. “I never get to see it like this.”

The monk simply didn’t understand. “Why not? Surely the stars aren’t different in your time.”

She laughed, shaking her head. “It’s not the stars that are different. You see, I live in a city. There are so many lights in the buildings and on the streets that only a handful of the very brightest stars are visible even at the best of times. Here there’s no interference from city lights. Anyway,” she said, handing some of the filled water bottles to the others, “I think we’d rather all not get any closer to Naraku right now.”

“Actually,” Miroku said, the timing couldn’t really be much better. With Naraku as close as we think he is, we probably won’t be bothered by youkai tonight. I don’t even think you really have to worry about the Shikon shards--with all the youkai we have with us I think that any but the very strongest youkai will leave us alone, and those kind of youkai don’t want to be around here: they’re exactly what Naraku would be looking for.”

Kagome smiled again--she hadn’t thought of that. She led them back to where the others already had a fire burning. Though there were no large trees nearby, there was sufficient overgrown brush to provide them with enough fuel to see them through the night. Shippou, as he usually did, ran forward to greet them. “Wait till you see what I found!”

The little kitsune led them to a pool cut off from the stream by a few days without rain. Looking into the slightly cloudy water, they could see what looked like hundreds of finger-sized freshwater shrimp. Glad that she had been careful to replenish her store of dried foods at every village they visited, Kagome tried to decide the best way to prepare the shrimp.

Because the pool containing the shrimp was downwind from the chosen campsite, they were nearly there before the hanyou was aware of their approach. He looked up almost guiltily as the others set down the water bottles they had carried. “There are a lot of fish in this stream. Maybe we should get a few extra to smoke and take with us.”

Since the region was essentially unfamiliar to the others, they quickly agreed--although the immediate are seemed to possess an abundance of food resources, it was entirely possible that an adjacent location only a few hours’ walk distant could be completely barren. Any supplies they could carry would be more than welcome later on.

As the others busied themselves with the routine activities of making the campsite a little more comfortable, Kagome sat next to the hanyou. “You look worried.”

He nodded, the light breeze ruffling his silver hair. “A little.”

She looked up in surprise--this was a huge admission from Inuyasha: he generally went to extremes to project the image of confidence, whether he really felt that way or not. “Is it because we’re getting so close to Naraku?”

“Partly.”

She realized that she wasn’t going to get any more detailed answer than that. “I think you should stick close to camp tonight.”

He nodded slowly. “You’re probably right. I’ve been looking at the area, and it’s a little more exposed than I like. On the other hand, it’d be pretty hard for anything to sneak up on us here--the only real cover is that scraggly brush growing by the water.”

Although she understood that the paranoia was almost completely due to the impending changes that would come with the nightfall, Kagome was not entirely sure that was the sole explanation. “Maybe,” she said, trying to put a slightly better face on the situation, “We can all get some real rest tonight.”

He looked away. “Not all of us.” At her puzzled expression, he continued, “I never sleep like that--it’s way too dangerous.”

“But it’s not,” she said. “Not any more. Don’t you understand? You’re not alone any more--you have friends who will watch out for you just like you always watch out for the rest of us.” Having given him something to think about, she went to help Sango catch some of the shrimp in the pool.

The hanyou watched her leave, not entirely sure he could accept what she had said. Being human, it was easy for the girl to speak of trusting others, but it had been a very long time since he had been able to do so. He had, of course, trusted his mother: she had kept the typical human mistrust of the hanyou from touching him directly. In that respect, he had been fortunate: he had experienced nothing worse than insults and exclusion while his mother still lived. After her death he had received the full brunt of the community’s hostility. Though only a couple of years older than Shippou, Inuyasha had struck out on his own.

No matter what he told people on those rare occasions when he spoke of his early life, it had not been easy. Even though he knew which foods in the area could be safely eaten, as all the local children did, he soon found other difficulties he hadn’t anticipated. He quickly learned that there were a lot of youkai who would find a small hanyou like him nothing more than a quick snack. He learned to move fast, sleeping during the day in a cave or on a high tree branch, foraging for food during the night when there was less chance of running into humans.

In time, he grew strong enough to fear little that existed in his world. Still, he remained alone, his only interactions with others consisting of occasional harassment and minor property damage. He took to snooping around human villages in an attempt to locate exactly where the most trouble could be found. It was in this way that he learned about a village not too distant that was said to be the hiding place of the legendary Shikon no Tama.

That piece of information gave him an idea: he would locate the village, steal the jewel, and become a powerful enough youkai to need never worry about being overwhelmed by anything ever again.

This plan eventually led to his encounter with the second human he allowed to become close to him--Kikyou.

As he thought about the reanimated miko who bore such a striking superficial resemblance to Kagome, Inuyasha remembered something Naraku had said during one of their brief confrontations. Was it true? Could it be that the bonds of trust he had shared with Kikyou were so easily twisted and broken by Naraku simply because they had never been genuinely strong to begin with?

Thinking back, he realized that he had never spoken to Kikyou of a great many things. He had never mentioned his past or his family. He had never spoken about his vulnerabilities. He had, he realized, never admitted that he had feared for her safety. At this point, he wasn’t even sure that he ever had been afraid for her.

What, he wondered, did this mean to his present situation? It was, he decided, definitely something worth thinking about.

Returning his attention to his speculations about the nature of trust, the hanyou couldn’t help but compare his past relationship to Kikyou to his new life with Kagome. While it was true that Kikyou had been his first love, it was also true that Kikyou had not known him well enough to keep from being fooled by Naraku’s impersonation. Kagome, on the other hand, sometimes seemed to know him too well: often an expression, gesture, or tone of voice was enough to tell her that something was going on. Kikyou had been extremely concerned with his behavior, even going so far as telling him not to be too violent in her presence. Kagome seemed more than willing to accept him as he was. Even though she sometimes disapproved of his actions, she seemed to make a distinction between the actions themselves and the person who committed them. Of course, Kagome frequently drove him to distraction with her reckless disregard for her own safety, something that Kikyou would never have done: she took her responsibilities as the jewel’s guardian very seriously indeed. She would certainly never have approached him in his transformed state, as Kagome had done more than once.

It suddenly seemed to him that it was once again time to begin trusting someone. Indeed, it was starting to look as though he had already begun to do so.

He stood up, shaking his head: this whole line of speculation was pointless. Besides, it was giving him a headache. Trying to take his mind off the subject, he waded into the stream to try his luck at catching fish.

By late afternoon the group had accomplished quite a lot. Not only did they have plenty of fish baking by the fire, but there were also a dozen more hung over a nearby smoky fire. In addition to the fish, three long strands of the little shrimp hung over the fire, strung on thread from Kagome’s sewing kit. A large pot full of shrimp and vegetables simmered at the edge of the fire.

It was turning out to be a quiet, very peaceful afternoon. Even though Inuyasha seemed a bit subdued, there appeared to be little cause for alarm--after all, a certain amount of edginess was to be expected given the date.

Though they had been working their way up into the northern mountains, they had camped in a broad, shallow valley. The grassland in which the travelers found themselves was fertile and lush thanks to the deep layer of soil formed by centuries of tiny particles eroded away from the surrounding mountains by the wind and rain.

As they sat around the fire, they heard an almost musical wailing sound coming from the northern end of the valley. Miroku shook his head in amusement. “It looks like the others will be back soon. Do you think they found anything today?”

The hanyou, growing increasingly bad-tempered as the end of the day approached, shrugged. “Who knows? We’ll find out soon enough--they won’t take long to get here now that they’re back in the valley.” He stood, pacing across the campsite. “It’s getting late. We should probably get everything set up for later on--it’ll be easier than trying to do it in the dark.”

With their long months of experience, setting up the campsite didn’t take long. Since the fire was already going, all that really remained was to lay out the sleeping bags and blankets. Surprisingly, Kagome made no move to pick out a spot. Looking rather preoccupied, she scanned the horizon, looking for the telltale whirlwinds that would signal the return of Kouga and Ayamae. “I can see them coming. It’ll just be a few minutes more.”

The report from Kouga’s scouting party was significant more because of what it did not contain than because of what it did. Early in the day’s search they had detected a slight scent of Naraku, although there had been no way to tell whether this was due to the presence of Naraku himself or one of his “detachments,” those creatures he had formed from his own substance and given the ability to function independently. The important thing was that the scent disappeared without a trace in a lightly wooded area slightly to the east of north only a few hours’ travel distant.

Generally, a scent trail like this would disappear completely for only two reasons. Either the creature leaving the trail had taken to the air, in which case there would be some slight traces left among the treetops, or the creature they were hunting had entered a barrier. This would not only prevent the scent from escaping to the outside, but would also--depending on the precise nature of the barrier--either keep an outsider from seeing through the obstruction or would mimic the surrounding area so perfectly that an observer would never even know that a barrier existed at all.

Of course, the fact that a creature bearing Naraku’s scent was able to enter a barrier indicated that the barrier had, in fact, been erected by Naraku himself. Otherwise, it would be as unable to enter as any casual visitor. If Naraku was able to create barriers once again, he had obviously recovered somewhat.

This, they decided, was not going to be an easy victory.

Still, the fact that Naraku’s barrier was so close meant that it would all be over soon, for good or ill.

They discussed the news at length over their baked fish and shrimp stew. As the red light of the mountain sunset faded, Ayamae could not contain her shock at the sudden changes in the hanyou’s appearance. “Now?!”

Kagome nodded. “that’s one of the reasons we made camp so early--we decided it was probably best not to get too much closer to Naraku today.”

The hanyou-turned-human stood up and paced across the campsite. “Actually, this could work to our advantage. Since we know that Naraku’s only a few hours from here, we can get a good night’s rest, leave before daybreak, and attack him in the morning, once this is over,” he said, raising a hand to display the lack of claws.

With that in mind, the group decided to settle in for the night. Although Ginta and Hakkaku had not yet caught up with the rest of the party, they should be arriving sometime soon --there was plenty of food left for them when they did.

Since Inuyasha was generally too nervous to sleep on these nights, he moved a short distance from the fire to keep from disturbing the others during the night. At this point, there was little that he could do to improve their chances of surviving the battle, so he tried to disregard the concerns that by this time tomorrow some or all of them might no longer live. Still, the worry nagged at him until he stood and paced along the edge of the firelight.

“That won’t help, I’m afraid.”

He wasn’t especially surprised to see Kagome standing there when he turned around. “You should be asleep: it looks like it’s going to be a rough day tomorrow.”

“Not as rough as yours will be.” Before he could answer, she held up a hand. “I know--you’re a lot tougher than I am. The truth is that I couldn’t sleep. Is it all right if I just stay here with you for a while?”

He sank to the grass just outside the firelight. “It’s finally going to be over.”

“I guess so.” Looking up, she shook her head. “It’s hard to believe that Naraku can be anywhere close to anything that beautiful.”

He wanted more than anything to find out what her plans were for after the fighting, but had no desire to distract her: she would need to be completely alert tomorrow. Although his senses were nowhere near as acute as they normally were, he could see her shiver in the light breeze. “Baka. You’re freezing.”

She shook her head. “It’s not really that cold here. I’ll be all right.”

The hanyou removed his haori and wrapped it around her. Even in his human form he didn’t really mind changes in temperature. He sat close against her, uncertain. This situation, he realized, was nothing like a battle in which it was often necessary to simply react without thinking. From months of watching Miroku and Sango, he had come to understand that uninvited physical contact could be a risky proposition. Still, not knowing if you will still be alive in twenty-four hours tends to remove much of the doubt in such a situation. He draped his left arm around her shoulders and was surprised when she responded by leaning against him.

At this point, Ginta and Hakkaku came pounding down the valley, finally catching up with Kouga and Ayamae. If either of them had any thoughts about the pair sitting alone in the dark they made no mention of it. Wolves, after all, tended to mate for life, and even those living in the closely-knit pack of their tribe sometimes felt the need for a little solitude.

The hanyou glared at them, almost challenging the two to comment. “We left you some food by the fire. Try to get a little sleep--we’re leaving before daybreak.”

Even if they hadn’t helped to scout out Naraku’s most probable location, they understood what was implied by the suggestion that the entire group would be moving out together. Suddenly feeling the full weight of fatigue from their long run, Ginta and Hakkaku ate quickly. Curling up on the soft grass a short distance from the fire, they were asleep almost before they hit the ground.

Kagome refocused her attention on her companion. “I can’t believe it’s almost over. You know,” she said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve been home. Why don’t you come and stay with my family a while once this is finally done?”

When he didn’t answer, Kagome moved slightly, just enough so that she could see his face. She blinked in surprise when she realized that he was actually asleep. Tears came to her eyes as she understood that he must finally have come to genuinely trust in the group’s willingness--and ability--to protect him when he was at his most helpless. She leaned a little closer, enjoying what would surely be their last bit of peace for at least a while.

Kagome’s eyes flew open at the slight rumbling she felt beneath the ground. As someone who had grown up in a land composed of volcanic islands where earthquakes were relatively common, she didn’t panic. Since there were no buildings or large trees around that could fall on them, she decided to just sit tight and wait for the vibration to pass. When the trembling in the ground seemed to grow stronger rather than stopping after a minute or two, she looked around in a panic. “This isn’t a regular earthquake!”

Although the rest of the group had been awakened by the vibrations, they had stayed in their blankets and sleeping bags to avoid any injuries form being thrown to the ground by the shifting land. The hanyou grabbed her, throwing her flat to the ground. “Don’t move!”

A short distance from where they had been sitting a few moments earlier, the ground split. The thing that emerged could only have come directly from a nightmare: nearly as thick around as the holy tree in the Higurashi shrine back home, the creature’s segmented body seemed to be covered in a hard, blue-grey armor. Although there was no way to tell exactly how large it was, it seemed that only a small part of it had emerged from the ground. It swung back and forth, apparently searching for something. The pair scrambled back toward the fire as the front of the creature split into four sections, revealing what could only be a mouth large enough to consume a horse lined with rows of serrated teeth.

Searching around in the dim light of the campfire, Kagome found her bow. Carefully fitting an arrow and taking aim, she was surprised when she fired the shaft only to see it bounce off the armored surface. “Get back, Inuyasha!”

By now the rest of the group had regained their footing and were now on the offensive. Sango’s Hiraikotsu, the boomerang that had been made in her home village from part of a huge youkai’s skeleton, missed its target in the wild whipping of the creature’s head. Miroku, unable to use his kazaana to absorb the thing because of all his friends in the way, reached into his robes for some of the sealing charms that would weaken the thing, perhaps enough so that they could finish it off. Kouga, using the unnatural speed of his Shikon fragments, raced around to the rear of the thing in an attempt to attack from that angle.

Suddenly, the hanyou realized that he had had it all wrong. It was not turning human that had made him weak every month: it was, in fact, his belief that humans were incapable of fighting and winning against youkai. The proof that this was a misconception was here before him. His human allies were fighting this thing--could he do any less?

Reaching into the fire for a long piece of burning wood, he ran forward, ducking between the defenders to jab the flaming wood into the center of the massive jaws. In what looked like a reflex action, the jaws snapped shut on the thing that had entered them. Barely a half second later, the jaws flew open again as the creature unleashed pure sonic hell in the form of a scream that seemed to pierce their skulls. It thrashed wildly, out of control, and this time Sango’s weapon found its mark, cleaving the monster in two as if it was a piece of overripe fruit.

“Everybody get clear!” Although the creature was essentially dead, it still flopped around and could easily crush them if they weren’t careful. Miroku unwrapped the strand of jade beads from his right hand, unsealing the kazaana. Extending his hand toward the still-moving youkai, he absorbed the creature into himself, sealing it away where it could do no more harm. Replacing the seal around his hand, the monk stood next to Sango, his arm around her waist. “So much for the theory that we wouldn’t see any youkai around here.”

The hanyou shook his head. “We wouldn’t have. I think this kind of youkai didn’t have to go into hiding from Naraku. Since it lived underground, there was no way to know it was there: you couldn’t smell it. It probably felt us moving around and thought we’d be an easy meal.”

Kagome watched in amazement as Miroku casually dropped his hand to give Sango’s rear a squeeze. As usual, she reacted instantly with a resounding slap that echoed all through the valley. That man never gave up!

Shaking his head in confusion over the entire matter, Inuyasha looked to the east. “It’s a little earlier than I’d planned to leave, but we might as well get packed up--we’re going to finish this once and for all.”