InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One Last Chance ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Kawa-Misuterii 
InuYasha returns to his home village, only to bet met with yet another loss. Later, we meet the newest member of Inu-gumi version 2.0.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Fantasy / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 08.01.2008 | Pages: 7 | Words: 8.5K | Visits: 401 | Status: Work In Progress
InuYasha returns to his home village, only to bet met with yet another loss. Later, we meet the newest member of Inu-gumi version 2.0.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Fantasy / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 08.01.2008 | Pages: 7 | Words: 8.5K | Visits: 401 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: So don’t own InuYasha......more like he owns me and my time.....all my random thoughts time, my feeble creative writing abilities, my TV time, my manga time, the list goes on...
So, uhh.....hi. Well, it’s good to see you all again, although I doubt any of you remember me after all this time....*doges the flying food*.......okay, okay, I’m sure you guys hate me for making you wait so long, but a few shout-outs before I get back to the story...*stumbles from the watermelon thrown on head*
jflorea: Dude, your review brightened my day, thank you.
pewter_wings: Yeah, I know the last chapter was no prize. Matter of fact, I’m sure it can be safely said that it was the worst one yet. But I had to get it out there before the staggering throws of band camp and spring fever came to eat me. I’ll go back and fix it someday. As for the formatting, I’ve been eating my fingers over figuring it out on mediaminer since day one. I seriously can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong! It works just fine on deviantART....anyway, I’m trying my best.
Songs:
No Nay Never-Irish Rovers
Trucker Hat-Bowling For Soup
I Don’t Feel Like Dancing-Scissor Sisters
Alright, onward with the story! *gets drenched in boiling ramen* GAAAHHHH!
One Last Chance: Chapter 8
“You’re.....you’re not going to eat me?” Orokami stuttered, looking back at the person who just removed her foot from her chest. Betty Lou looked down at her with a mixture of pity and amusement.
“Eat you? Wow.....we really are in the past.” she said, tuning to InuYasha. “I still can’t get it through my head, ya know?”
“Feh. Just get the wench to take us to Kaede, and get this over with.” he replied, tucking his arms into his suikan. Shippou was sitting on his shoulder, having gotten over his smirking and assumed a rather bored expression.
“Okay, up and at ‘em, hime, we ain’t got all day.” Betty nudged the other priestess with her foot, and waved her bow and arrows around to bribe her into getting up. Orokami stumbled to her feet, and almost fell into Betty Lou, only to meet the ground again when Betty moved out of the way. Orokami glared at her, although she seemed unable to replace the look of utter confusion in her eyes.
“I have yet to figure out what manner of beast ye are, but Kaede-sensei shall tell me what you are, AND how to kill you!” she spat, and turned on her heel, stomping away, a clear indication for them to follow her.
“I can’t believe the old baba made it this long.” InuYasha said to Shippou, who nodded.
“Yeah, I’ve been watching over her and the village this whole time. I don’t see her out much anymore, I think she’s sick or something. Anyway, this girl here is her replacement, although why they picked her is beyond me. Sesshomaru has more spiritual power than her.” he said sarcastically. (*side note* Sesshy has a butt-load of demonic power, not spiritual power, for those of you easily confused. ^-^ just thought I’d be a smart ass and tell you that.)
InuYasha nodded in agreement, and watched as Betty Lou strutted in front of him, still a bit high off of her ego boost from kicking Orokami’s butt. Her boots stomped unnecessarily on the dirt path, and even though she was in front of him, he just knew she had that infuriating smirk on her lips.
‘What a blow hard.’ he thought to himself. (I just love irony.)
The group continued along the familiar dirt path until they came back to the village. InuYasha smiled. Nothing had changed save for a few new huts. He was never leaving this era again, that much was for damn sure.
He began thinking about Kikyou, how he had been walking along this very path when this entire fiasco started. He had been so surprised to see her through the trees, pointing an arrow at him and yelling her betrayal at his face. He was completely astounded, and didn’t even have time to register the fact that he couldn’t smell her.
When he thought that she truly wanted him dead, his heart had broken, and he flew into vengeful rage, intending to steal the jewel from Kikyou and kill her when he received that unbelievable power. Now that he thought about it, he doubted whether he’d ever be able to harm her. Hell, he couldn’t even get rid of the copy of her on that damn island, Horai, that those wanna-be war gods created. (*side note #2* Reference from InuYasha the Movie 4: Fire on the Mystic Island)
He’d been so excited that morning, thinking that he was about to start a life, a family. He’d actually woken up smiling. That was something he couldn’t remember ever doing in his entire life. A hundred or so years wandering on your own doesn’t really prompt you to wake up on the right side of the tree branch, so he was surprised at the stupid grin on his face when he opened his eyes. Sure, he was a bit apprehensive about losing his youkai powers, but he would gladly give them up for the chance to end the loneliness.
InuYasha snorted out loud. He had woken up thinking that day would be the best in his entire life.
Betty Lou turned to smirk at him, thinking that he was laughing at Orokami’s ridiculous swaying hips, but she quirked her eyebrow when she saw him staring at the ground.
“Kaede will remember you, right?” Betty asked quietly. InuYasha snapped out of his gaze, and glared at her for his answer.
“Corse she will, damn wench wouldn’t dare forget me.” he growled back. Shippou jumped off of his back as he said this, and ran up to Betty Lou, stopping in her path.
“Are you going to be staying here?” he asked, his skepticism laden in his voice as he walked backwards when Betty Lou didn’t stop in front of him.
“For a little while. I’m just gonna help out InuYasha with something. You wanna come with us?” she asked gruffly. Shippou seemed to think about it for a moment, then shook his head, to InuYasha’s surprise.
‘Keh. Bet he just doesn’t want to be caught in the crossfire once she starts attracting demons, just like her incarnates.’ InuYasha thought traitorously. He was contemplating various centipede monsters running after a shrieking Betty Lou when they came upon a hut, Kaede’s old one having fallen down with age. He smiled when he smelled the familiar scent of the old woman, but frowned when he noticed a disease laded through the air.
Orokami stopped outside of the door to turn and give them an evil look, which Betty Lou and InuYasha returned eagerly.
“Kaede-sensei? I came upon a few youkai, and they followed me here. How shall I dispose of them?” she called out, not going inside the hut.
“Baka girl, can you not take care of them yourself?” replied a weak, wheezy voice. InuYasha cringed. Kaede was not long for this world, he could already tell. It was a miracle she’d made it this far. He strode forward and pushed Orokami out of the way, Betty Lou and Shippou behind him.
“Orokami, you foolish girl, get out of here and finish-” Kaede stopped and froze as she sat up on her futon, thinner and more wrinkled than InuYasha remembered.
“InuYasha...” she said slowly, disbelief in her small, old eyes.
“Hey, babaa.” he replied quietly. InuYasha tried not to frown, but from what he could tell, Kaede only had a few more days until the tuberculosis ended her long life. But he counted himself lucky. It was a miracle he’d even been able to see her again.
“Have you...found....” she started, unable to keep sitting up and settling for turning towards him.
“Hai. This is...Betty Lou. She’s...well, her.” he said, stepping out of the way to present Betty Lou, who was sufficiently hidden behind him. Betty Lou tried to look impressive, but was given away by the blush on her face.
“Ahh, child.....ye look exactly like Kikyou when she was but a young girl, not long after our mother died. Come here, girl, let me take a look at ye.” she asked tiredly, motioning for Betty Lou to come closer. Betty shuffled forward and kneeled at Kaede’s futon, who squinted up at her and smiled.
“Yes, ye are my sisters reincarnation, no doubt. Ye look a bit scrawny, however, help yourself to some soup on the fire over there, child.” Kaede smiled, pulling her hands away from Betty’s face and motioning to the pot over the indoor fire. Betty Lou scowled at her and turned to the food, even though she had eaten right before they went to Higurashi Shrine. InuYasha rolled his eyes, but turned back to the old woman.
“InuYasha, ye have not changed a bit. *cough cough* Miroku and Sango would be quite pleased to see ye again, if ye can visit on your trip to the Western Lands. They....*sigh*......have prospered.” she said tiredly. InuYasha scowled. He turned to Betty Lou, who was currently slurping away at the soup, and motioned for her to see him outside.
Orokami glared at them, and then stomped away, not waiting for Kaede’s orders. InuYasha turned around to look at Betty Lou, who was still slurping soup and looking at him expectantly.
“Look, we’re going to stay here for a couple days, alright? I know we have to get to the Western Lands, but Kaede is at the end of her rope, and I figure the least I could do is dig her grave.” he said, not bothering to look into Betty’s eyes anymore. She did as he expected, and shrugged and walked off, presumably to explore the village. He wasn’t surprised by her lack of interest.
InuYasha sighed. Kaede had always been there. Old, but strong. Grandmotherly, yet fierce. Seeing her in this state put a major damper of his triumphant return, but then again, it was amazing that she was even here after all this time. He wouldn’t waste his energy mourning her, she had lived a long, fulfilling life, or so he supposed.
He had been staring off into space for about an hour, thinking about Kaede, both when she was a little brat by Kikyou’s side, and as an old woman who’d helped him. He had begun wondering when Shippou had slunk off when he heard a roar coming from the village.
“Betty...” he groaned.
_______________________________
The roar, it turned out, was a roar of laughter from the village square. There was a crowd of men and women circling around something, shielding it from view. But InuYasha had a pretty good idea what they were watching. No way he could mistake that voice.
“I’ve been a wild rover for many a yeeeeeaaaaaaar, and I’ve spent all me money on whiskey and beeeeeeer. But now I’m returnin’ with gold and great scooooore, and I swear I will play the wild rover no moooore.” she snag out in English. InuYasha let out a small noise of mortification, and Betty turned and grinned at him. She had her guitar out, and apparently was showing off to a group of village teens nearby, and had unknowingly attracted the attention of every one else in the tiny village. There she was, standing in the middle of a crowd with her guitar, just as she had been when he first met her. Although now she was singing.....an Irish drinking song? Where the hell had she learned that? InuYasha shook his head of thoughts of the little Asian girl playing her guitar for a bunch of drunken men in a bar on that ridiculous holiday they had....St. Patrick’s day, was it? As he did that, the beat sped up as she launched herself into the chorus.
“And it’s no, nay, never. No, nay never, no mooooore! Will I play the wild rover? No never, no more!” she grinned, and the villagers near him looked at her with a mixture of amusement and confusion at what she was saying, but to his relief, they mumbled to each other, regarding her as an exotic performer from the continent.
“I went into an ale house that I used to frequent! And I told the land lady me money was spent. I asked for some credit, and she answered me nay! Such a custom as yours I can get any day-And it’s no, nay, never! No, nay, never, no more! Will I plaaaaayyyyyyy the wild rover? No never, no more!” she sang out, and a few of the village girls started to dance, although the only dances they knew didn’t really measure up to the song, so they made fools of themselves making up new ones.
Before long, Betty Lou had the entire village dancing around her, and InuYasha frozen stock still with a mixture of shock and horror. Finally, he broke out of his daze and snarled and shoved his way through a few of the younger village boys who were looking at her appreciatively, wondering among themselves if she was a geisha. (I honestly don’t know if there were geisha all the way back in the Sengoku, I’m going off of that episode when Miroku first appears. Remember? He just stole the shard from Kagome and he was at a....I guess the equivalent to a strip club at that time? Idk, anyway they were all ugly, and his exact words were “So much for their claims of having beautiful geisha.” But then again, I’m totally clueless when it comes to this kind of stuff, and I don’t trust google.....it will cause the destruction of the universe one day....along with cell phones.....If I’m wrong, feel free to flame me. Hell, flame me just cause I’m a dumbass in general..... k I’m done. Gomen, seriously. Yes I think I’m cool cause I use randomly placed Japanese phrases.^-^)
Betty Lou finished her song just as he reached her, and gave him a smug grin that he almost wanted to smack off of her face.
‘I don’t hurt women, I don’t hurt women, I don’t hurt women...’ he said to himself as he bristled.
“Hey, InuYasha, having fun?” she asked in perfect Japanese, causing some of the villagers to look at her funny. Was she foreign or not?
“You little bitch! What did I tell you about speaking.....you know! What the hell is wrong with you?! You could get yourself killed doing shit like that!” He whispered loudly, not wanting to attract more attention. Betty gave him a mock guilty look, and he had to repeat his mantra about not hurting women a few times in order to get control of himself.
“Come on.” He growled, grabbing her hand and accidentally hitting her in the face with the neck of her own guitar as he pulled her away from the crowd forcefully (This happens more often than you think). He dragged her back to Kaede’s hut, and he could hear her peaceful snores as he approached the hut, sunset not far off.
He turned abruptly to Betty Lou, and let her go, disregarding the slight blush she had on her cheeks, and only feeling a little guilty about the bruise on her cheekbone.
“Are you gonna be causing trouble every where we go?” he asked desperately.
Betty Lou nodded and answered quickly “Most likely, yeah.”
She grinned innocently at him. InuYasha growled in response.
“Oh common, did you see those guys working? They deserved a break, and it didn’t look like they were planning to burn me at the stake, so you’ll forgive me if I’m not sorry.” she pouted at him, and InuYasha felt his anger melt into annoyance. He pinched the bridge of his nose, an act he had picked up from the television he watched back in the modern era, and sighed loudly.
“Look, just....don’t ‘perform’ here, okay? I’ll take care of the food, just practice that thing when no one’s around, alright? It’s only a matter of time before one of the villagers recognizes you for who you are, and they won’t like the idea of a miko being a performer.” he stated simply.
“Oh, they already know who I am.” she said simply, choosing to stare off into space than to look at him, causing his anger to make a return.
“What?” he asked, a little too calm.
“Well, not all of them, but yeah, that’s how I ended up singing a drinking song for them. They thought it was a weapon, can you believe that? So, of course I couldn’t let the poor souls go on living without knowing the joy of an acoustic, and they started dancing, and then you showed up before I got to do my encore, and.....you know.” she waved vaguely at him while putting her guitar away.
But InuYasha had frozen, a scared look on his face, no longer paying attention to Betty Lou. He wasn’t hearing something he was supposed to be hearing. He turned and ran into the hut, a frantic look on his face, despite the fact that his body was composed and still when Betty Lou went in to find out what the problem was.
Kaede had stopped breathing.
“Damn, I thought she’d at least have a couple of days.” He said, his voice quavering a little. He kneeled at her side and checked her pulse, but he already knew she was dead. It didn’t really come as a shock to him, but that didn’t stop the immediate sadness that struck his heart.
“Damn, damn, damn.” he said to himself, punching the ground beside Kaede’s head.
“Is she....gone?” Betty Lou asked tentatively. InuYasha turned to her, and to his surprise, he felt sadness coming off of her aura as well, despite the fact that she profusely expressed no emotion at the thought of the old woman dying earlier.
InuYasha turned around and studied her aura very closely. She was really, truly, hurting for the death of a woman she hadn’t spoken two words to! Although her face held the facade of uninterested solemness, he could tell she was almost near tears.
‘What the fuck?’ he thought to himself, although there was a soft tone to his inner voice. ‘Since when does she give a damn about anyone other than Kyoko?’
She turned back to face InuYasha, and for a moment, he looked deep into her eyes. She seemed to feel the intensity in his gaze, and turned to walk out the door, mumbling an ‘I’m sorry’ before disappearing.
‘Maybe.....maybe she’s more like Kagome than I thought.’
________________________
InuYasha had woken up at the crack of dawn the next morning to bury Kaede’s body, and had left in the middle of the ceremony Orokami was giving. Most of the village had come to pay their respects to the old miko, and they picked this time to remember him from fifteen years ago. To his surprise, most smiled and waved, although there were the customary few who still looked at him with fear.
And with that, InuYasha and Kagome started out on the long road to the Western Lands. Yes, it was another perfect, peaceful day in Sengoku Jidai, and he couldn’t be more content.
“This is the song that reminds me of my trucker hat, that I used to wear not to block out the sun! With the John Deere logo and the stain on the back, from where you laid me out flat, one look I was done.”
Well, mostly.
Betty Lou had decided after about an hour of walking along in silence that it would be much more fun to walk and play at the same time. At first he’d wondered how she managed to do it (it’s harder than it looks!). But now he was just getting more and more annoyed at the fact that she seemed intent on singing every single annoying song she knew to him, Kyoko walking beside her, enjoying that fact that there were no leash laws in the Sengoku.
Every time he turned around, meaning to tell her to shut up, she got that ridiculous, smug, crooked little smirk that screamed ‘I’m here because of you, so you can shut up and let me be irritating!’
He hated that smirk with a vengeance.
She finished the song she was singing, and figuring that it didn’t really have as much of an effect as she wanted it to, she started up another one.
“Wake up in the mornin’ with a head like ‘what you done?’ This used to be the life, but I don’t need another one. You like cutting up and carrying on you wear them gowns. So how come I feel so lonely when you’re up getting down?
“So I’ll play along when I hear that special song. I’m gonna be the one that gets it right. You’d better know when you’re swingin’ ‘round the room. Looks like magic’s only ours tonight.
“But I don’t feel like dancin’ when the old Joanna plays! My heart could take a chance but my two feet can’t find a way. You’d think that I could muster up a little soft shoe gentle sway, but I don’t feel like dancin’, no sir no dancin’ toda-y-ay! Don’t feel like dancin’, dancin’-”
“Would you shut the hell up?! What the hell does that even mean?!” InuYasha yelled, throwing his arms up in the air and turning to glare at her. The evil smirk got bigger.
“I honestly have no idea.” she said, still playing the guitar. He glared at her.
“Do you have to sing it so....high?” he asked, regaining control of himself.
“It’s supposed to be falsetto.” she replied.
“It sounds terrible.”
“Yeah, well, your mom.” she said back, unfazed. InuYasha snapped.
“All right, that’s it! Listen here, you little smart ass! I-” he stopped in the middle of his sentence, sniffing the air.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, putting her guitar back in its carrying case for safe keeping.
“Youkai. Headed this way. Common, lets get off the road, sounds like they’re fighting.” he said, forgetting about their argument. He led Betty Lou and Kyoko into the woods by the road, and kept his ear pricked for the oncoming demons.
Not long after they got out of view, a spectacular sight came upon them, and Betty Lou was barely containing herself with fear and excitement. A figure in a black cloak and a hood which threw his face into shadow was single-handedly fighting off a group of angry lizard demons, taking turns running from them and fighting them one on one whenever a fast one got too close, with large, jagged, double-edged swords. Demon swords, InuYasha thought, the figure peaking his interest.
Whoever the figure was, they sure as hell could fight..
InuYasha could see that one of them was preparing to attack the guy from behind as he killed one of its comrades, so he leapt out of the trees he was hiding in, eager for his first taste of battle in ten years.
‘Time to show off the wind scar.’ he thought excitedly to himself as he blocked the killing blow that would have surely finished off the strange figure. To be honest, he had no idea whether it was a good idea to be saving him or not, but he never really liked lizard demons, and from what he could tell, Tetsusaiga was much stronger than both the swords that the other guy held.
“WIND SCAR!!!!!!” he yelled out, causing all of the demons in his range to freeze and disappear in a blinding flash of light. He turned and smirked at Betty Lou, who was looking on in astonishment, her mouth hanging wide open. Who was ridiculous looking now?
The two remaining lizard demons left in a scurry, leaving the man in black standing with his swords out, looking, presumably, at InuYasha, although he still couldn’t see his face.
“Humph, guess you’re not even going to thank me, are you?” he said indignantly, hefting the Tetsusaiga on his shoulder and glaring at the figure. He-or it, InuYasha wasn’t exactly sure what it was-stood still, only moving to sheath the swords.
“That’s a no. Common, wench, let’s get a move on.” InuYasha called out to Betty as he sheathed his own sword. She snapped out of her daze and hurried out of the cover of the woods, Kyoko in tow.
“That was freakin’ amazing!” she said indicating the katana resting harmlessly at his side. InuYasha grinned smugly, thinking his victory was better tasted without words. He kicked butt, while she sat and watched. That was enough for him to wear his own smug grin.
They started off again, and over the next couple of hours, InuYasha was surprised to find that, when she wasn’t doing her best to torture him, having Betty Lou beside him was pretty natural. She seemed content to stare off into space, blindly following him. Then again, he might have just been happy she didn’t have ‘The Smirk’ on.
The only damper about this tiny revelation was that the figure in black was following them. Whoever it was, he didn’t seem to deem it necessary to hide the fact he was following them, as he merely strolled at a leisurely pace a few hundred yards behind them. InuYasha turned to glare at him every few minutes, but kept his mouth shut, choosing to wait for the attack.
The first day of travel came to a close when InuYasha smelled a little blood coming from Betty Lou. She was still staring off into the sky, but it seemed her feet were bleeding into her boots from walking all day, as she had chosen to eat and walk when lunch came around.
He wondered why she never said anything, but she was either totally lost in deep thought, or not thinking at all. She walk forward with a single one-mindedness that he had to admit he was impressed with. But then again, the glazed, deadened look in her eyes seemed to be fading to be replaced by an odd glimmer he’d never noticed before.
The figure following them stopped when they did, although when InuYasha moved to make a fire, it disappeared into the woods. It was a demon, that much InuYasha knew, but the fact that he had no idea of what its intent was disturbed him into pacing around the campfire.
“Why don’t we just go see if it wants to make friends?” Betty Lou asked loudly, uneasy about the presence she felt. InuYasha glared at her.
“Hey, that’s a good idea, but I’ve got a better one! Why don’t we just invite it over to eat us! Kyoko can be the appetizer, and YOU can be the MAIN COURSE!!!” he grouched, his irritability getting the better of him. Betty Lou just looked at him.
“Sheesh, ever hear of sarcasm? Someone forgot their happy pills this morning.” she mumbled under her breath, leaning back against the trunk of a tree and sulking, almost as on edge as InuYasha from having to walk all day.
He felt the youkai get closer and closer until he was positive that it was hiding just out of sight behind a tree. InuYasha was almost positive it had no ill intent now, but it was a mysterious thing, to be sure.
“Alright, I’m sick of this. I know you’re there, you might as well come out.” InuYasha snapped at the figure standing in the shadows.
To his surprise, a soft, feminine voice came from its direction.
“I merely wished to thank you for saving me. My name is Harukamaru. I have been fighting with those demons for quite some time now. I owe you my life, and I intend to repay you for your kindness.” she said formally as a delicate boot stepped slowly out of the darkness. Harukamaru raised her covered hands, and lowered her hood, only to reveal that her face was hidden much like a ninja with white cloth, save for her amazingly huge, deep blue eyes, the color of a stormy ocean. Eyes like that only belonged to demons.
“You don’t have to repay me or nothin’.” he replied bashfully. Betty Lou was transfixed with Harukamaru, who was reaching over her head to unravel the bindings that held her appearance from wandering eyes. The cloak had fallen to her feet, and revealed an incredibly small form, covered with forearm and shin guards, a small boy’s breast plate, and a rather impressive belt, holding all manner of weapons, from a few small daggers to bags of powdered poison to her double blades, all of which rested on white bandage wrappings.
“I have already decided that I shall, and I’m afraid you can’t stop me. I was hoping you would allow me to travel with you, but if you would prefer not, I can follow behind instead. I can be rather discreet if my presence is particularly unwanted.” she said simply as she remover her breast plate.. InuYasha peered closer. He had seen her almost cut in half by the lizard youkai at least twice, and yet she had not a drop of blood on her, nor the scent of battle. He was confused by her scent. He couldn’t readily discern what it was, although he was sure she was some form of powerful, royal youkai. He got the strangest mixture. She smell of both predator....and prey.
Harukamaru untied a knot behind her head, and to his surprise, a river of golden hair fell down her back in the form of a long braid, which she untied and gave a shake to unravel. This movement revealed her ears, which were, as he suspected, pointed in the demon fashion.
Her mouth was still hidden by the mysterious white bindings, but it was clear that she was about to reveal her entire face. Her disguised hand crept up behind her neck to untie a knot, and allowed the warrior veil to fall away.
Betty Lou inhaled sharply. Were it not for her Asian eyes, she would have mistaken Harukamaru for a European, with her light blonde hair that fell into her blue eyes messily. Betty Lou raised an eyebrow.
She had high, proud cheekbones, and a small, sloped, pointed nose. Her lips were on the thin side, although that might have been because she was biting her lip in anticipation as to what InuYasha would say to her. Her skin was impeccably flawless, although the same could be said for all demons who took a human form. She was beautiful, alright, but that didn’t take much for demons who chose to be beautiful, a fact InuYasha had learned a long time ago. All in all, she wasn’t anything to be too impressed over.
Harukamaru made no move to remove any of her other bindings, which was just as well, because from what InuYasha could see from the cloth hanging off of her neck, she didn’t take them off much. Her face was a normal, if a bit pasty color. But as the skin on her neck descended out of view into her breast bone and shoulders, he could see that it was unnaturally white and delicate looking, meaning she had a fatal weakness. A weakness that probably coated her entire body and basically spelled ‘liability’.
“So are you going to tell me what kind of youkai you are, or are you just gonna sit there?” InuYasha asked irritably to hide his curiosity. He had to find out what sort of demon that made a scent that caused such a paradox with his instincts. He wanted to be on guard, because her scent (not to mention the display of skill with her weapons that day) gave of an aura of quiet danger. Then again, her diminutive appearance, along with the prey part of her scent, he almost considered tackling her and sticking her over a spit for food.
‘Whoa. Where’d that one come from?’ InuYasha thought, surprised at himself. He’d never thought of doing that to any creature smart enough to talk to him. Sure, his natural instincts sometimes egged him on whenever he was stalking a small animal, but never with an intelligent creature! It was always rabbits, or wild boars, or deer...wait...that was it!
“You’re a deer youkai.” InuYasha stated, finally pin pointing part of the smell she gave off. To his surprise, she reached behind her and began fumbling with the bindings on her backside.
“Do I look like a deer youkai?” she asked, baring a mouth full of jagged fangs. She turned around, and to his immense surprise, found that she was sporting a long, fluffy golden tail, which twitched. She raised a threatening hand to him, and when he looked closer, he say that she also boasted rather sharp claws, if not a little smaller than his own.
“That’s not possible.” he said slowly. She had all of the markings of some sort of canine youkai, and yet her scent, although a bit threatening in some aspects, clearly told him that she was a deer, a fawn, something to be hunted down without much of a fight.
She sighed audibly.
“Kami dammed sense of smell.” she muttered under her breath. InuYasha smirked.
‘Knew I was right...’ he snickered in his head.
“I’m half deer youkai, and half wolf youkai, okay?” she said bitterly, sitting down and looking into the fire. Her golden hair fell over her shoulder and hid her face from InuYasha’s view.
“Anyway, I’ve been fighting with those lizard demons over a territory for a few years now. I should’ve given up the moment they managed to spend the night in it, though, the smell will never go away. So, I’ll just follow after you from now on.” she said bluntly, looking at InuYasha expectantly.
InuYasha decided it would be better for his mental health not to answer that last remark. He was still contemplating Harukamaru’s strange heritage. Deer and wolves were mortal enemies. Well, that wasn’t exactly accurate. Deer were wolf prey, no arguments about it. Almost everything that possessed fangs and a set of claws hunted deer. The only deer youkai he knew of that were of anything worth mentioning were the ‘old spirit of the forest’ youkai, the ones who lived peacefully near humans, and normally stood ‘guard’ over villages in the deep wilderness. Really, if a powerful predator youkai came along, there was nothing the old deer could do about it. Yet, the humans would honor them with offerings and prayers and whatnot. The only reason other youkai respected them was because it was quite a feat for deer to make it to old age.
InuYasha began studying her feet. He himself had only ever come across a fully matured deer youkai once in his life. They were lucky if they made it to adolescence, most of the time, and seeing as they didn’t breed very often, their numbers had dwindled almost down to nothing in the past few centuries. But there was one characteristic that always set them apart from other human-like youkai. All deer youkai had sharp, cleft hooves instead of feet. No other youkai did, unless they took the form of a monster, and those would normally end up being huge and threatening, made for trampling.
Her boots were delicate, and small enough that she could still feign humanity and wear them comfortably.
“Hey....let me see your feet.” InuYasha asked, looking at her through the corner of his eyes. Betty Lou shot him several different looks; confusion, revulsion, curiosity, amusement. She wrinkled her nose.
“And why,” she started, holding her hand up to stop Harukamaru from saying anything in reply. “Would you want to look at her feet?” she asked, barely containing her laughter as her shoulders shook and her lips pursed to hide her grin.
“To see her hooves, of corse! Why else?” InuYasha replied irritably. Kami, she was infuriating! What was so fucking funny about wanting to see someone’s feet? He stopped and thought about that last sentence. Okay, maybe it was a little weird. Still, the bitch had no right to laugh at him, she’d said way stranger things when she was just sitting around her apartment.
“Just let me see them!” he barked. Harukamaru shot him a glare and reached down to pull off her boots, revealing- big shocker -more wrappings, molded around a rather unusual shape. Harukamaru reached down and yanked a strip, causing all of the bindings on her foot to come loose...revealing a delicate hoof, about the same size as a small horse.
It was a pointed cleft, two hard, black shells growing out of a seemingly human leg. They were actually pretty practical. She would have perfect balance, and coupled with her youkai legs, she would be as fast as Kouga could ever hope to be without jewel shards, and that was saying something.
Harukamaru quickly wrapped her foot back up, slid the boot back on, and looked around for any would-be onlookers. InuYasha raised an eyebrow. Technically, she was a half-breed too, but she was ten times more exotic than any other half-breed he’d ever met, including himself. The fact that both parts of her heritage were youkai should’ve meant that she had less to worry about than him. Perhaps she’d angered another youkai to make her so suspicious?
“What about your swords? Where did you get them?” he asked conversationally, although he could feel the beginnings of a migraine starting.
“They were made from my father’s antlers.” she said. InuYasha nodded, silently wondering why she had not taken her mother’s fangs instead, surly they would be better suited for battle? She closed her eyes, and turned to him again. “So what about you? Surely you have some reason for venturing out of your territory.”
“Ain’t got a territory.” InuYasha grouched.
“You’ve got a woman, but no territory? Is your head on backwards?” she asked. InuYasha scowled, remembering this situation
“She AIN’T my woman!” he spat, an angry scowl on his face. Why did people always automatically assume that just because he was traveling with a girl, that she was his woman?
“Well then, what is she doing traveling with you? Don’t you think it’s a little inappropriate to be with her alone?” Harukamaru asked with a raised eyebrow, looking up at him.
“Hey, SHE can decide for herself whether or not it’s inappropriate, and she thinks weird blonde youkai with funky swords should mind their own damn business.” Betty Lou said, a bitter look on her face at having been ignored.
“Gomen nasai, may I ask your name?” Harukamaru turned to her. Despite her formal language, she did not seemed to show her much respect in her condescending attitude..
“It’s Betty.” she replied, stretching out on the ground and propping her chin up to look at the demoness questioningly.
“Well, Be-ti-dono, it certainly is a pleasure.” she said, although it wasn’t very sincere. InuYasha smirked. Maybe it would be worth letting the other wench hang around if it meant that Betty would be annoying Harukamaru instead of him.
‘We’ll see if she wants the jewel for herself, and then decide if she’s worth keeping around.’ his inner voice told him.
Betty Lou simply scowled and closed her eyes, falling asleep after a few moments of silence. That was another thing that always puzzled InuYasha. Here he was again, out in the open, the scent of a human and a fire practically begging for an attack, and just like Kagome, Betty Lou had no fear just passing out, trusting him with no doubts.
He found himself watching her for a little while, noting the similarities in their features. She seemed to have gained weight since she met him, lessening the severe gauntness of her face, and the pinched look of her features had miraculously disappeared. In reality, she did look more like Kikyou in her pastiness, although that would be fixed with two weeks of walking out in the sun.
InuYasha leaned forward, sniffing her discreetly, as Harukamaru was still there, although she had now retreated into the shadows, having re-donned her wrappings and black cloak. Betty still smelled muskier and more like struggle than both Kikyou and Kagome did, but it wasn’t necessarily bad. Just...heavier, and....something else....
Betty Lou heaved out an astounding snore, and turned to lie sprawled out on her stomach, using Kyoko’s stomach as a pillow. InuYasha wrinkled his nose. No matter what that ‘something else’ was, she had no problem being as offensive and brazen as he was, even in her sleep.
‘What is it about the difference in upbringings that make them all so different from each other?’ he asked himself. He knew for a fact that neither Kikyou nor Kagome snored. Kagome would have blushed and yelled at him if he even suggested that she snored, and Kikyou....well, with Kikyou, he wouldn’t have dared. But he had complained to Betty Lou about her snoring several times, and she just grinned at him, apparently quite proud of the fact that she kept him up half the night.
‘Evil wench...’ he thought traitorously. Although he’d rather impale himself on Tessaiga than admit it, she confused him ten times worse than Kagome ever managed. They were generally from the same era, so how did her customs and ideals come to be so different from Kagome’s? Kagome was always going on about school and her future, interrupting precious shard-hunting time to go take those stupid ‘test’ things. But Betty was only worried about memorizing songs for that dingy little scum-hole she called a club and what her next meal was, almost like a ronin.
Now that he thought about it, Betty Lou never really voiced any ambitions. He knew what awaited him at the end of his journey, but for the first time, he contemplated Betty’s future. He smiled a little while he imagined her after he was gone.
‘She’d go back to the future with Kyoko, keep performing in that little club until someone figured out how talented she was and had her playing for the emperor or someone important like that. She’d get rich and famous and forget all about the stupid little adventure with a hanyou back in her childhood. Hell, maybe she’d even be on the moving picture box, all dolled up like some of the women he’d seen on there...except not as slutty, she was better than that. Not to mention she’d rip whoever tried to dress her up like that a new asshole...’ his inner voice narrated to him.
Betty Lou grumbled in her sleep. InuYasha smiled. Yup, she’d be just fine, without anyone's help.
(Author’s Note)
Okay, for Harukamaru’s name, I was NOT looking to copy Sesshomaru, I swear! (Although it did help my descision that both he and the Bat taiyoukai (Tsukuyomaru) have ‘maru’ at the end of their name, sort of tabooing it for powerful youkai) Basically, I was aiming for it to mean ‘far off perfection’. Pronounced: ha-RU-ka-MA-ru, and Orokami is inflected as such: o-RO-ka-mi
So.....
Speaking of hentai, I had a rather strange thought while watching the show a couple days ago. Okay, it was that really awesomely hilarious episode where Jaken tried to steal the Tetsusaiga while InuYasha and Miroku were passed out together in the spring (dirty thoughts, DIRTY THOUGHTS!) And Kagome runs over and sees InuYasha in his birthday suit, right? (Not to mention all spread out for inspection, am I right? muahaha) Well, then a little while later Inu’s running around with just his hakama on and that was when the thought occurred to me. He’s a DOG demon, right? Well then, wouldn’t it logically follow that he’d be a little unusually hairy? But no, he’s got a flawlessly hairless chest, wtf? Now, I’m not saying I spend my spare time looking at guy’s chests *cough* but most of the guys I hang out with are either really hairy, or too young to be so. Is Rumiko really trying to tell us that such a manly man that InuYasha is, he hasn’t matured enough to get chest hair? No, I don’t think so. There are precious few out there who’re naturally hairless, so that has led me to the conclusion that he shaves it. But this raises more questions than it answers. Where did he get a razor? What ELSE does he shave? And most importantly, why? Feel free to post your thoughts in a review, I’d love to get some feedback from fellow super fans.
Hmmm.....maybe I should change the rating on this....
Anyway, the last chapter of InuYasha came out not too long ago (spoiler alert!), and to be perfectly honest, I was a little disappointed in it. Then again, I do happen to have a vendetta against happy endings, so that might be it. The other thing I didn’t like about it, is after how many years of sexual frustration and awkward moments, NO FRIGGEN KISS!!!! I gotta say, that pissed me off almost as much as Sesshomaru leaving Rin to grow up normal. I personally always saw their relationship as purely platonic, like a father-daughter thing, so the absence of anything else between them didn’t bother me, I just wanted Rin to stay with him ‘fowevor and evor,’ ya know?
Bwahaha, I love using end notes for my stupid rantings that really have nothing to do with you personally. Then again, most of you are probably like me and are skipping right over this, seeing as it is rather long. That’s okay, I don’t mind. Seriously, for those of you who ended up actually reading this whole thing, my sincere apologizes, I do tend to let it get a little out of hand every now and then. So, to review or not review, that is the question. I won’t bother threatening you this time, seeing as I’ve run out of weapons. I do however, have half a box of pocky with me. I swear to god I do, I was just at my local comic book store today and I had to get a box. But I ate half while writing this, so.....never mind, I want the other half. Nyah. Sorry for taking up your time, I’m really wondering when the deviant who let me on the internet is going to be arrested. Ja ne, and all that jazz...
So, uhh.....hi. Well, it’s good to see you all again, although I doubt any of you remember me after all this time....*doges the flying food*.......okay, okay, I’m sure you guys hate me for making you wait so long, but a few shout-outs before I get back to the story...*stumbles from the watermelon thrown on head*
jflorea: Dude, your review brightened my day, thank you.
pewter_wings: Yeah, I know the last chapter was no prize. Matter of fact, I’m sure it can be safely said that it was the worst one yet. But I had to get it out there before the staggering throws of band camp and spring fever came to eat me. I’ll go back and fix it someday. As for the formatting, I’ve been eating my fingers over figuring it out on mediaminer since day one. I seriously can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong! It works just fine on deviantART....anyway, I’m trying my best.
Songs:
No Nay Never-Irish Rovers
Trucker Hat-Bowling For Soup
I Don’t Feel Like Dancing-Scissor Sisters
Alright, onward with the story! *gets drenched in boiling ramen* GAAAHHHH!
One Last Chance: Chapter 8
“You’re.....you’re not going to eat me?” Orokami stuttered, looking back at the person who just removed her foot from her chest. Betty Lou looked down at her with a mixture of pity and amusement.
“Eat you? Wow.....we really are in the past.” she said, tuning to InuYasha. “I still can’t get it through my head, ya know?”
“Feh. Just get the wench to take us to Kaede, and get this over with.” he replied, tucking his arms into his suikan. Shippou was sitting on his shoulder, having gotten over his smirking and assumed a rather bored expression.
“Okay, up and at ‘em, hime, we ain’t got all day.” Betty nudged the other priestess with her foot, and waved her bow and arrows around to bribe her into getting up. Orokami stumbled to her feet, and almost fell into Betty Lou, only to meet the ground again when Betty moved out of the way. Orokami glared at her, although she seemed unable to replace the look of utter confusion in her eyes.
“I have yet to figure out what manner of beast ye are, but Kaede-sensei shall tell me what you are, AND how to kill you!” she spat, and turned on her heel, stomping away, a clear indication for them to follow her.
“I can’t believe the old baba made it this long.” InuYasha said to Shippou, who nodded.
“Yeah, I’ve been watching over her and the village this whole time. I don’t see her out much anymore, I think she’s sick or something. Anyway, this girl here is her replacement, although why they picked her is beyond me. Sesshomaru has more spiritual power than her.” he said sarcastically. (*side note* Sesshy has a butt-load of demonic power, not spiritual power, for those of you easily confused. ^-^ just thought I’d be a smart ass and tell you that.)
InuYasha nodded in agreement, and watched as Betty Lou strutted in front of him, still a bit high off of her ego boost from kicking Orokami’s butt. Her boots stomped unnecessarily on the dirt path, and even though she was in front of him, he just knew she had that infuriating smirk on her lips.
‘What a blow hard.’ he thought to himself. (I just love irony.)
The group continued along the familiar dirt path until they came back to the village. InuYasha smiled. Nothing had changed save for a few new huts. He was never leaving this era again, that much was for damn sure.
He began thinking about Kikyou, how he had been walking along this very path when this entire fiasco started. He had been so surprised to see her through the trees, pointing an arrow at him and yelling her betrayal at his face. He was completely astounded, and didn’t even have time to register the fact that he couldn’t smell her.
When he thought that she truly wanted him dead, his heart had broken, and he flew into vengeful rage, intending to steal the jewel from Kikyou and kill her when he received that unbelievable power. Now that he thought about it, he doubted whether he’d ever be able to harm her. Hell, he couldn’t even get rid of the copy of her on that damn island, Horai, that those wanna-be war gods created. (*side note #2* Reference from InuYasha the Movie 4: Fire on the Mystic Island)
He’d been so excited that morning, thinking that he was about to start a life, a family. He’d actually woken up smiling. That was something he couldn’t remember ever doing in his entire life. A hundred or so years wandering on your own doesn’t really prompt you to wake up on the right side of the tree branch, so he was surprised at the stupid grin on his face when he opened his eyes. Sure, he was a bit apprehensive about losing his youkai powers, but he would gladly give them up for the chance to end the loneliness.
InuYasha snorted out loud. He had woken up thinking that day would be the best in his entire life.
Betty Lou turned to smirk at him, thinking that he was laughing at Orokami’s ridiculous swaying hips, but she quirked her eyebrow when she saw him staring at the ground.
“Kaede will remember you, right?” Betty asked quietly. InuYasha snapped out of his gaze, and glared at her for his answer.
“Corse she will, damn wench wouldn’t dare forget me.” he growled back. Shippou jumped off of his back as he said this, and ran up to Betty Lou, stopping in her path.
“Are you going to be staying here?” he asked, his skepticism laden in his voice as he walked backwards when Betty Lou didn’t stop in front of him.
“For a little while. I’m just gonna help out InuYasha with something. You wanna come with us?” she asked gruffly. Shippou seemed to think about it for a moment, then shook his head, to InuYasha’s surprise.
‘Keh. Bet he just doesn’t want to be caught in the crossfire once she starts attracting demons, just like her incarnates.’ InuYasha thought traitorously. He was contemplating various centipede monsters running after a shrieking Betty Lou when they came upon a hut, Kaede’s old one having fallen down with age. He smiled when he smelled the familiar scent of the old woman, but frowned when he noticed a disease laded through the air.
Orokami stopped outside of the door to turn and give them an evil look, which Betty Lou and InuYasha returned eagerly.
“Kaede-sensei? I came upon a few youkai, and they followed me here. How shall I dispose of them?” she called out, not going inside the hut.
“Baka girl, can you not take care of them yourself?” replied a weak, wheezy voice. InuYasha cringed. Kaede was not long for this world, he could already tell. It was a miracle she’d made it this far. He strode forward and pushed Orokami out of the way, Betty Lou and Shippou behind him.
“Orokami, you foolish girl, get out of here and finish-” Kaede stopped and froze as she sat up on her futon, thinner and more wrinkled than InuYasha remembered.
“InuYasha...” she said slowly, disbelief in her small, old eyes.
“Hey, babaa.” he replied quietly. InuYasha tried not to frown, but from what he could tell, Kaede only had a few more days until the tuberculosis ended her long life. But he counted himself lucky. It was a miracle he’d even been able to see her again.
“Have you...found....” she started, unable to keep sitting up and settling for turning towards him.
“Hai. This is...Betty Lou. She’s...well, her.” he said, stepping out of the way to present Betty Lou, who was sufficiently hidden behind him. Betty Lou tried to look impressive, but was given away by the blush on her face.
“Ahh, child.....ye look exactly like Kikyou when she was but a young girl, not long after our mother died. Come here, girl, let me take a look at ye.” she asked tiredly, motioning for Betty Lou to come closer. Betty shuffled forward and kneeled at Kaede’s futon, who squinted up at her and smiled.
“Yes, ye are my sisters reincarnation, no doubt. Ye look a bit scrawny, however, help yourself to some soup on the fire over there, child.” Kaede smiled, pulling her hands away from Betty’s face and motioning to the pot over the indoor fire. Betty Lou scowled at her and turned to the food, even though she had eaten right before they went to Higurashi Shrine. InuYasha rolled his eyes, but turned back to the old woman.
“InuYasha, ye have not changed a bit. *cough cough* Miroku and Sango would be quite pleased to see ye again, if ye can visit on your trip to the Western Lands. They....*sigh*......have prospered.” she said tiredly. InuYasha scowled. He turned to Betty Lou, who was currently slurping away at the soup, and motioned for her to see him outside.
Orokami glared at them, and then stomped away, not waiting for Kaede’s orders. InuYasha turned around to look at Betty Lou, who was still slurping soup and looking at him expectantly.
“Look, we’re going to stay here for a couple days, alright? I know we have to get to the Western Lands, but Kaede is at the end of her rope, and I figure the least I could do is dig her grave.” he said, not bothering to look into Betty’s eyes anymore. She did as he expected, and shrugged and walked off, presumably to explore the village. He wasn’t surprised by her lack of interest.
InuYasha sighed. Kaede had always been there. Old, but strong. Grandmotherly, yet fierce. Seeing her in this state put a major damper of his triumphant return, but then again, it was amazing that she was even here after all this time. He wouldn’t waste his energy mourning her, she had lived a long, fulfilling life, or so he supposed.
He had been staring off into space for about an hour, thinking about Kaede, both when she was a little brat by Kikyou’s side, and as an old woman who’d helped him. He had begun wondering when Shippou had slunk off when he heard a roar coming from the village.
“Betty...” he groaned.
_______________________________
The roar, it turned out, was a roar of laughter from the village square. There was a crowd of men and women circling around something, shielding it from view. But InuYasha had a pretty good idea what they were watching. No way he could mistake that voice.
“I’ve been a wild rover for many a yeeeeeaaaaaaar, and I’ve spent all me money on whiskey and beeeeeeer. But now I’m returnin’ with gold and great scooooore, and I swear I will play the wild rover no moooore.” she snag out in English. InuYasha let out a small noise of mortification, and Betty turned and grinned at him. She had her guitar out, and apparently was showing off to a group of village teens nearby, and had unknowingly attracted the attention of every one else in the tiny village. There she was, standing in the middle of a crowd with her guitar, just as she had been when he first met her. Although now she was singing.....an Irish drinking song? Where the hell had she learned that? InuYasha shook his head of thoughts of the little Asian girl playing her guitar for a bunch of drunken men in a bar on that ridiculous holiday they had....St. Patrick’s day, was it? As he did that, the beat sped up as she launched herself into the chorus.
“And it’s no, nay, never. No, nay never, no mooooore! Will I play the wild rover? No never, no more!” she grinned, and the villagers near him looked at her with a mixture of amusement and confusion at what she was saying, but to his relief, they mumbled to each other, regarding her as an exotic performer from the continent.
“I went into an ale house that I used to frequent! And I told the land lady me money was spent. I asked for some credit, and she answered me nay! Such a custom as yours I can get any day-And it’s no, nay, never! No, nay, never, no more! Will I plaaaaayyyyyyy the wild rover? No never, no more!” she sang out, and a few of the village girls started to dance, although the only dances they knew didn’t really measure up to the song, so they made fools of themselves making up new ones.
Before long, Betty Lou had the entire village dancing around her, and InuYasha frozen stock still with a mixture of shock and horror. Finally, he broke out of his daze and snarled and shoved his way through a few of the younger village boys who were looking at her appreciatively, wondering among themselves if she was a geisha. (I honestly don’t know if there were geisha all the way back in the Sengoku, I’m going off of that episode when Miroku first appears. Remember? He just stole the shard from Kagome and he was at a....I guess the equivalent to a strip club at that time? Idk, anyway they were all ugly, and his exact words were “So much for their claims of having beautiful geisha.” But then again, I’m totally clueless when it comes to this kind of stuff, and I don’t trust google.....it will cause the destruction of the universe one day....along with cell phones.....If I’m wrong, feel free to flame me. Hell, flame me just cause I’m a dumbass in general..... k I’m done. Gomen, seriously. Yes I think I’m cool cause I use randomly placed Japanese phrases.^-^)
Betty Lou finished her song just as he reached her, and gave him a smug grin that he almost wanted to smack off of her face.
‘I don’t hurt women, I don’t hurt women, I don’t hurt women...’ he said to himself as he bristled.
“Hey, InuYasha, having fun?” she asked in perfect Japanese, causing some of the villagers to look at her funny. Was she foreign or not?
“You little bitch! What did I tell you about speaking.....you know! What the hell is wrong with you?! You could get yourself killed doing shit like that!” He whispered loudly, not wanting to attract more attention. Betty gave him a mock guilty look, and he had to repeat his mantra about not hurting women a few times in order to get control of himself.
“Come on.” He growled, grabbing her hand and accidentally hitting her in the face with the neck of her own guitar as he pulled her away from the crowd forcefully (This happens more often than you think). He dragged her back to Kaede’s hut, and he could hear her peaceful snores as he approached the hut, sunset not far off.
He turned abruptly to Betty Lou, and let her go, disregarding the slight blush she had on her cheeks, and only feeling a little guilty about the bruise on her cheekbone.
“Are you gonna be causing trouble every where we go?” he asked desperately.
Betty Lou nodded and answered quickly “Most likely, yeah.”
She grinned innocently at him. InuYasha growled in response.
“Oh common, did you see those guys working? They deserved a break, and it didn’t look like they were planning to burn me at the stake, so you’ll forgive me if I’m not sorry.” she pouted at him, and InuYasha felt his anger melt into annoyance. He pinched the bridge of his nose, an act he had picked up from the television he watched back in the modern era, and sighed loudly.
“Look, just....don’t ‘perform’ here, okay? I’ll take care of the food, just practice that thing when no one’s around, alright? It’s only a matter of time before one of the villagers recognizes you for who you are, and they won’t like the idea of a miko being a performer.” he stated simply.
“Oh, they already know who I am.” she said simply, choosing to stare off into space than to look at him, causing his anger to make a return.
“What?” he asked, a little too calm.
“Well, not all of them, but yeah, that’s how I ended up singing a drinking song for them. They thought it was a weapon, can you believe that? So, of course I couldn’t let the poor souls go on living without knowing the joy of an acoustic, and they started dancing, and then you showed up before I got to do my encore, and.....you know.” she waved vaguely at him while putting her guitar away.
But InuYasha had frozen, a scared look on his face, no longer paying attention to Betty Lou. He wasn’t hearing something he was supposed to be hearing. He turned and ran into the hut, a frantic look on his face, despite the fact that his body was composed and still when Betty Lou went in to find out what the problem was.
Kaede had stopped breathing.
“Damn, I thought she’d at least have a couple of days.” He said, his voice quavering a little. He kneeled at her side and checked her pulse, but he already knew she was dead. It didn’t really come as a shock to him, but that didn’t stop the immediate sadness that struck his heart.
“Damn, damn, damn.” he said to himself, punching the ground beside Kaede’s head.
“Is she....gone?” Betty Lou asked tentatively. InuYasha turned to her, and to his surprise, he felt sadness coming off of her aura as well, despite the fact that she profusely expressed no emotion at the thought of the old woman dying earlier.
InuYasha turned around and studied her aura very closely. She was really, truly, hurting for the death of a woman she hadn’t spoken two words to! Although her face held the facade of uninterested solemness, he could tell she was almost near tears.
‘What the fuck?’ he thought to himself, although there was a soft tone to his inner voice. ‘Since when does she give a damn about anyone other than Kyoko?’
She turned back to face InuYasha, and for a moment, he looked deep into her eyes. She seemed to feel the intensity in his gaze, and turned to walk out the door, mumbling an ‘I’m sorry’ before disappearing.
‘Maybe.....maybe she’s more like Kagome than I thought.’
________________________
InuYasha had woken up at the crack of dawn the next morning to bury Kaede’s body, and had left in the middle of the ceremony Orokami was giving. Most of the village had come to pay their respects to the old miko, and they picked this time to remember him from fifteen years ago. To his surprise, most smiled and waved, although there were the customary few who still looked at him with fear.
And with that, InuYasha and Kagome started out on the long road to the Western Lands. Yes, it was another perfect, peaceful day in Sengoku Jidai, and he couldn’t be more content.
“This is the song that reminds me of my trucker hat, that I used to wear not to block out the sun! With the John Deere logo and the stain on the back, from where you laid me out flat, one look I was done.”
Well, mostly.
Betty Lou had decided after about an hour of walking along in silence that it would be much more fun to walk and play at the same time. At first he’d wondered how she managed to do it (it’s harder than it looks!). But now he was just getting more and more annoyed at the fact that she seemed intent on singing every single annoying song she knew to him, Kyoko walking beside her, enjoying that fact that there were no leash laws in the Sengoku.
Every time he turned around, meaning to tell her to shut up, she got that ridiculous, smug, crooked little smirk that screamed ‘I’m here because of you, so you can shut up and let me be irritating!’
He hated that smirk with a vengeance.
She finished the song she was singing, and figuring that it didn’t really have as much of an effect as she wanted it to, she started up another one.
“Wake up in the mornin’ with a head like ‘what you done?’ This used to be the life, but I don’t need another one. You like cutting up and carrying on you wear them gowns. So how come I feel so lonely when you’re up getting down?
“So I’ll play along when I hear that special song. I’m gonna be the one that gets it right. You’d better know when you’re swingin’ ‘round the room. Looks like magic’s only ours tonight.
“But I don’t feel like dancin’ when the old Joanna plays! My heart could take a chance but my two feet can’t find a way. You’d think that I could muster up a little soft shoe gentle sway, but I don’t feel like dancin’, no sir no dancin’ toda-y-ay! Don’t feel like dancin’, dancin’-”
“Would you shut the hell up?! What the hell does that even mean?!” InuYasha yelled, throwing his arms up in the air and turning to glare at her. The evil smirk got bigger.
“I honestly have no idea.” she said, still playing the guitar. He glared at her.
“Do you have to sing it so....high?” he asked, regaining control of himself.
“It’s supposed to be falsetto.” she replied.
“It sounds terrible.”
“Yeah, well, your mom.” she said back, unfazed. InuYasha snapped.
“All right, that’s it! Listen here, you little smart ass! I-” he stopped in the middle of his sentence, sniffing the air.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, putting her guitar back in its carrying case for safe keeping.
“Youkai. Headed this way. Common, lets get off the road, sounds like they’re fighting.” he said, forgetting about their argument. He led Betty Lou and Kyoko into the woods by the road, and kept his ear pricked for the oncoming demons.
Not long after they got out of view, a spectacular sight came upon them, and Betty Lou was barely containing herself with fear and excitement. A figure in a black cloak and a hood which threw his face into shadow was single-handedly fighting off a group of angry lizard demons, taking turns running from them and fighting them one on one whenever a fast one got too close, with large, jagged, double-edged swords. Demon swords, InuYasha thought, the figure peaking his interest.
Whoever the figure was, they sure as hell could fight..
InuYasha could see that one of them was preparing to attack the guy from behind as he killed one of its comrades, so he leapt out of the trees he was hiding in, eager for his first taste of battle in ten years.
‘Time to show off the wind scar.’ he thought excitedly to himself as he blocked the killing blow that would have surely finished off the strange figure. To be honest, he had no idea whether it was a good idea to be saving him or not, but he never really liked lizard demons, and from what he could tell, Tetsusaiga was much stronger than both the swords that the other guy held.
“WIND SCAR!!!!!!” he yelled out, causing all of the demons in his range to freeze and disappear in a blinding flash of light. He turned and smirked at Betty Lou, who was looking on in astonishment, her mouth hanging wide open. Who was ridiculous looking now?
The two remaining lizard demons left in a scurry, leaving the man in black standing with his swords out, looking, presumably, at InuYasha, although he still couldn’t see his face.
“Humph, guess you’re not even going to thank me, are you?” he said indignantly, hefting the Tetsusaiga on his shoulder and glaring at the figure. He-or it, InuYasha wasn’t exactly sure what it was-stood still, only moving to sheath the swords.
“That’s a no. Common, wench, let’s get a move on.” InuYasha called out to Betty as he sheathed his own sword. She snapped out of her daze and hurried out of the cover of the woods, Kyoko in tow.
“That was freakin’ amazing!” she said indicating the katana resting harmlessly at his side. InuYasha grinned smugly, thinking his victory was better tasted without words. He kicked butt, while she sat and watched. That was enough for him to wear his own smug grin.
They started off again, and over the next couple of hours, InuYasha was surprised to find that, when she wasn’t doing her best to torture him, having Betty Lou beside him was pretty natural. She seemed content to stare off into space, blindly following him. Then again, he might have just been happy she didn’t have ‘The Smirk’ on.
The only damper about this tiny revelation was that the figure in black was following them. Whoever it was, he didn’t seem to deem it necessary to hide the fact he was following them, as he merely strolled at a leisurely pace a few hundred yards behind them. InuYasha turned to glare at him every few minutes, but kept his mouth shut, choosing to wait for the attack.
The first day of travel came to a close when InuYasha smelled a little blood coming from Betty Lou. She was still staring off into the sky, but it seemed her feet were bleeding into her boots from walking all day, as she had chosen to eat and walk when lunch came around.
He wondered why she never said anything, but she was either totally lost in deep thought, or not thinking at all. She walk forward with a single one-mindedness that he had to admit he was impressed with. But then again, the glazed, deadened look in her eyes seemed to be fading to be replaced by an odd glimmer he’d never noticed before.
The figure following them stopped when they did, although when InuYasha moved to make a fire, it disappeared into the woods. It was a demon, that much InuYasha knew, but the fact that he had no idea of what its intent was disturbed him into pacing around the campfire.
“Why don’t we just go see if it wants to make friends?” Betty Lou asked loudly, uneasy about the presence she felt. InuYasha glared at her.
“Hey, that’s a good idea, but I’ve got a better one! Why don’t we just invite it over to eat us! Kyoko can be the appetizer, and YOU can be the MAIN COURSE!!!” he grouched, his irritability getting the better of him. Betty Lou just looked at him.
“Sheesh, ever hear of sarcasm? Someone forgot their happy pills this morning.” she mumbled under her breath, leaning back against the trunk of a tree and sulking, almost as on edge as InuYasha from having to walk all day.
He felt the youkai get closer and closer until he was positive that it was hiding just out of sight behind a tree. InuYasha was almost positive it had no ill intent now, but it was a mysterious thing, to be sure.
“Alright, I’m sick of this. I know you’re there, you might as well come out.” InuYasha snapped at the figure standing in the shadows.
To his surprise, a soft, feminine voice came from its direction.
“I merely wished to thank you for saving me. My name is Harukamaru. I have been fighting with those demons for quite some time now. I owe you my life, and I intend to repay you for your kindness.” she said formally as a delicate boot stepped slowly out of the darkness. Harukamaru raised her covered hands, and lowered her hood, only to reveal that her face was hidden much like a ninja with white cloth, save for her amazingly huge, deep blue eyes, the color of a stormy ocean. Eyes like that only belonged to demons.
“You don’t have to repay me or nothin’.” he replied bashfully. Betty Lou was transfixed with Harukamaru, who was reaching over her head to unravel the bindings that held her appearance from wandering eyes. The cloak had fallen to her feet, and revealed an incredibly small form, covered with forearm and shin guards, a small boy’s breast plate, and a rather impressive belt, holding all manner of weapons, from a few small daggers to bags of powdered poison to her double blades, all of which rested on white bandage wrappings.
“I have already decided that I shall, and I’m afraid you can’t stop me. I was hoping you would allow me to travel with you, but if you would prefer not, I can follow behind instead. I can be rather discreet if my presence is particularly unwanted.” she said simply as she remover her breast plate.. InuYasha peered closer. He had seen her almost cut in half by the lizard youkai at least twice, and yet she had not a drop of blood on her, nor the scent of battle. He was confused by her scent. He couldn’t readily discern what it was, although he was sure she was some form of powerful, royal youkai. He got the strangest mixture. She smell of both predator....and prey.
Harukamaru untied a knot behind her head, and to his surprise, a river of golden hair fell down her back in the form of a long braid, which she untied and gave a shake to unravel. This movement revealed her ears, which were, as he suspected, pointed in the demon fashion.
Her mouth was still hidden by the mysterious white bindings, but it was clear that she was about to reveal her entire face. Her disguised hand crept up behind her neck to untie a knot, and allowed the warrior veil to fall away.
Betty Lou inhaled sharply. Were it not for her Asian eyes, she would have mistaken Harukamaru for a European, with her light blonde hair that fell into her blue eyes messily. Betty Lou raised an eyebrow.
She had high, proud cheekbones, and a small, sloped, pointed nose. Her lips were on the thin side, although that might have been because she was biting her lip in anticipation as to what InuYasha would say to her. Her skin was impeccably flawless, although the same could be said for all demons who took a human form. She was beautiful, alright, but that didn’t take much for demons who chose to be beautiful, a fact InuYasha had learned a long time ago. All in all, she wasn’t anything to be too impressed over.
Harukamaru made no move to remove any of her other bindings, which was just as well, because from what InuYasha could see from the cloth hanging off of her neck, she didn’t take them off much. Her face was a normal, if a bit pasty color. But as the skin on her neck descended out of view into her breast bone and shoulders, he could see that it was unnaturally white and delicate looking, meaning she had a fatal weakness. A weakness that probably coated her entire body and basically spelled ‘liability’.
“So are you going to tell me what kind of youkai you are, or are you just gonna sit there?” InuYasha asked irritably to hide his curiosity. He had to find out what sort of demon that made a scent that caused such a paradox with his instincts. He wanted to be on guard, because her scent (not to mention the display of skill with her weapons that day) gave of an aura of quiet danger. Then again, her diminutive appearance, along with the prey part of her scent, he almost considered tackling her and sticking her over a spit for food.
‘Whoa. Where’d that one come from?’ InuYasha thought, surprised at himself. He’d never thought of doing that to any creature smart enough to talk to him. Sure, his natural instincts sometimes egged him on whenever he was stalking a small animal, but never with an intelligent creature! It was always rabbits, or wild boars, or deer...wait...that was it!
“You’re a deer youkai.” InuYasha stated, finally pin pointing part of the smell she gave off. To his surprise, she reached behind her and began fumbling with the bindings on her backside.
“Do I look like a deer youkai?” she asked, baring a mouth full of jagged fangs. She turned around, and to his immense surprise, found that she was sporting a long, fluffy golden tail, which twitched. She raised a threatening hand to him, and when he looked closer, he say that she also boasted rather sharp claws, if not a little smaller than his own.
“That’s not possible.” he said slowly. She had all of the markings of some sort of canine youkai, and yet her scent, although a bit threatening in some aspects, clearly told him that she was a deer, a fawn, something to be hunted down without much of a fight.
She sighed audibly.
“Kami dammed sense of smell.” she muttered under her breath. InuYasha smirked.
‘Knew I was right...’ he snickered in his head.
“I’m half deer youkai, and half wolf youkai, okay?” she said bitterly, sitting down and looking into the fire. Her golden hair fell over her shoulder and hid her face from InuYasha’s view.
“Anyway, I’ve been fighting with those lizard demons over a territory for a few years now. I should’ve given up the moment they managed to spend the night in it, though, the smell will never go away. So, I’ll just follow after you from now on.” she said bluntly, looking at InuYasha expectantly.
InuYasha decided it would be better for his mental health not to answer that last remark. He was still contemplating Harukamaru’s strange heritage. Deer and wolves were mortal enemies. Well, that wasn’t exactly accurate. Deer were wolf prey, no arguments about it. Almost everything that possessed fangs and a set of claws hunted deer. The only deer youkai he knew of that were of anything worth mentioning were the ‘old spirit of the forest’ youkai, the ones who lived peacefully near humans, and normally stood ‘guard’ over villages in the deep wilderness. Really, if a powerful predator youkai came along, there was nothing the old deer could do about it. Yet, the humans would honor them with offerings and prayers and whatnot. The only reason other youkai respected them was because it was quite a feat for deer to make it to old age.
InuYasha began studying her feet. He himself had only ever come across a fully matured deer youkai once in his life. They were lucky if they made it to adolescence, most of the time, and seeing as they didn’t breed very often, their numbers had dwindled almost down to nothing in the past few centuries. But there was one characteristic that always set them apart from other human-like youkai. All deer youkai had sharp, cleft hooves instead of feet. No other youkai did, unless they took the form of a monster, and those would normally end up being huge and threatening, made for trampling.
Her boots were delicate, and small enough that she could still feign humanity and wear them comfortably.
“Hey....let me see your feet.” InuYasha asked, looking at her through the corner of his eyes. Betty Lou shot him several different looks; confusion, revulsion, curiosity, amusement. She wrinkled her nose.
“And why,” she started, holding her hand up to stop Harukamaru from saying anything in reply. “Would you want to look at her feet?” she asked, barely containing her laughter as her shoulders shook and her lips pursed to hide her grin.
“To see her hooves, of corse! Why else?” InuYasha replied irritably. Kami, she was infuriating! What was so fucking funny about wanting to see someone’s feet? He stopped and thought about that last sentence. Okay, maybe it was a little weird. Still, the bitch had no right to laugh at him, she’d said way stranger things when she was just sitting around her apartment.
“Just let me see them!” he barked. Harukamaru shot him a glare and reached down to pull off her boots, revealing- big shocker -more wrappings, molded around a rather unusual shape. Harukamaru reached down and yanked a strip, causing all of the bindings on her foot to come loose...revealing a delicate hoof, about the same size as a small horse.
It was a pointed cleft, two hard, black shells growing out of a seemingly human leg. They were actually pretty practical. She would have perfect balance, and coupled with her youkai legs, she would be as fast as Kouga could ever hope to be without jewel shards, and that was saying something.
Harukamaru quickly wrapped her foot back up, slid the boot back on, and looked around for any would-be onlookers. InuYasha raised an eyebrow. Technically, she was a half-breed too, but she was ten times more exotic than any other half-breed he’d ever met, including himself. The fact that both parts of her heritage were youkai should’ve meant that she had less to worry about than him. Perhaps she’d angered another youkai to make her so suspicious?
“What about your swords? Where did you get them?” he asked conversationally, although he could feel the beginnings of a migraine starting.
“They were made from my father’s antlers.” she said. InuYasha nodded, silently wondering why she had not taken her mother’s fangs instead, surly they would be better suited for battle? She closed her eyes, and turned to him again. “So what about you? Surely you have some reason for venturing out of your territory.”
“Ain’t got a territory.” InuYasha grouched.
“You’ve got a woman, but no territory? Is your head on backwards?” she asked. InuYasha scowled, remembering this situation
“She AIN’T my woman!” he spat, an angry scowl on his face. Why did people always automatically assume that just because he was traveling with a girl, that she was his woman?
“Well then, what is she doing traveling with you? Don’t you think it’s a little inappropriate to be with her alone?” Harukamaru asked with a raised eyebrow, looking up at him.
“Hey, SHE can decide for herself whether or not it’s inappropriate, and she thinks weird blonde youkai with funky swords should mind their own damn business.” Betty Lou said, a bitter look on her face at having been ignored.
“Gomen nasai, may I ask your name?” Harukamaru turned to her. Despite her formal language, she did not seemed to show her much respect in her condescending attitude..
“It’s Betty.” she replied, stretching out on the ground and propping her chin up to look at the demoness questioningly.
“Well, Be-ti-dono, it certainly is a pleasure.” she said, although it wasn’t very sincere. InuYasha smirked. Maybe it would be worth letting the other wench hang around if it meant that Betty would be annoying Harukamaru instead of him.
‘We’ll see if she wants the jewel for herself, and then decide if she’s worth keeping around.’ his inner voice told him.
Betty Lou simply scowled and closed her eyes, falling asleep after a few moments of silence. That was another thing that always puzzled InuYasha. Here he was again, out in the open, the scent of a human and a fire practically begging for an attack, and just like Kagome, Betty Lou had no fear just passing out, trusting him with no doubts.
He found himself watching her for a little while, noting the similarities in their features. She seemed to have gained weight since she met him, lessening the severe gauntness of her face, and the pinched look of her features had miraculously disappeared. In reality, she did look more like Kikyou in her pastiness, although that would be fixed with two weeks of walking out in the sun.
InuYasha leaned forward, sniffing her discreetly, as Harukamaru was still there, although she had now retreated into the shadows, having re-donned her wrappings and black cloak. Betty still smelled muskier and more like struggle than both Kikyou and Kagome did, but it wasn’t necessarily bad. Just...heavier, and....something else....
Betty Lou heaved out an astounding snore, and turned to lie sprawled out on her stomach, using Kyoko’s stomach as a pillow. InuYasha wrinkled his nose. No matter what that ‘something else’ was, she had no problem being as offensive and brazen as he was, even in her sleep.
‘What is it about the difference in upbringings that make them all so different from each other?’ he asked himself. He knew for a fact that neither Kikyou nor Kagome snored. Kagome would have blushed and yelled at him if he even suggested that she snored, and Kikyou....well, with Kikyou, he wouldn’t have dared. But he had complained to Betty Lou about her snoring several times, and she just grinned at him, apparently quite proud of the fact that she kept him up half the night.
‘Evil wench...’ he thought traitorously. Although he’d rather impale himself on Tessaiga than admit it, she confused him ten times worse than Kagome ever managed. They were generally from the same era, so how did her customs and ideals come to be so different from Kagome’s? Kagome was always going on about school and her future, interrupting precious shard-hunting time to go take those stupid ‘test’ things. But Betty was only worried about memorizing songs for that dingy little scum-hole she called a club and what her next meal was, almost like a ronin.
Now that he thought about it, Betty Lou never really voiced any ambitions. He knew what awaited him at the end of his journey, but for the first time, he contemplated Betty’s future. He smiled a little while he imagined her after he was gone.
‘She’d go back to the future with Kyoko, keep performing in that little club until someone figured out how talented she was and had her playing for the emperor or someone important like that. She’d get rich and famous and forget all about the stupid little adventure with a hanyou back in her childhood. Hell, maybe she’d even be on the moving picture box, all dolled up like some of the women he’d seen on there...except not as slutty, she was better than that. Not to mention she’d rip whoever tried to dress her up like that a new asshole...’ his inner voice narrated to him.
Betty Lou grumbled in her sleep. InuYasha smiled. Yup, she’d be just fine, without anyone's help.
(Author’s Note)
Okay, for Harukamaru’s name, I was NOT looking to copy Sesshomaru, I swear! (Although it did help my descision that both he and the Bat taiyoukai (Tsukuyomaru) have ‘maru’ at the end of their name, sort of tabooing it for powerful youkai) Basically, I was aiming for it to mean ‘far off perfection’. Pronounced: ha-RU-ka-MA-ru, and Orokami is inflected as such: o-RO-ka-mi
So.....
Speaking of hentai, I had a rather strange thought while watching the show a couple days ago. Okay, it was that really awesomely hilarious episode where Jaken tried to steal the Tetsusaiga while InuYasha and Miroku were passed out together in the spring (dirty thoughts, DIRTY THOUGHTS!) And Kagome runs over and sees InuYasha in his birthday suit, right? (Not to mention all spread out for inspection, am I right? muahaha) Well, then a little while later Inu’s running around with just his hakama on and that was when the thought occurred to me. He’s a DOG demon, right? Well then, wouldn’t it logically follow that he’d be a little unusually hairy? But no, he’s got a flawlessly hairless chest, wtf? Now, I’m not saying I spend my spare time looking at guy’s chests *cough* but most of the guys I hang out with are either really hairy, or too young to be so. Is Rumiko really trying to tell us that such a manly man that InuYasha is, he hasn’t matured enough to get chest hair? No, I don’t think so. There are precious few out there who’re naturally hairless, so that has led me to the conclusion that he shaves it. But this raises more questions than it answers. Where did he get a razor? What ELSE does he shave? And most importantly, why? Feel free to post your thoughts in a review, I’d love to get some feedback from fellow super fans.
Hmmm.....maybe I should change the rating on this....
Anyway, the last chapter of InuYasha came out not too long ago (spoiler alert!), and to be perfectly honest, I was a little disappointed in it. Then again, I do happen to have a vendetta against happy endings, so that might be it. The other thing I didn’t like about it, is after how many years of sexual frustration and awkward moments, NO FRIGGEN KISS!!!! I gotta say, that pissed me off almost as much as Sesshomaru leaving Rin to grow up normal. I personally always saw their relationship as purely platonic, like a father-daughter thing, so the absence of anything else between them didn’t bother me, I just wanted Rin to stay with him ‘fowevor and evor,’ ya know?
Bwahaha, I love using end notes for my stupid rantings that really have nothing to do with you personally. Then again, most of you are probably like me and are skipping right over this, seeing as it is rather long. That’s okay, I don’t mind. Seriously, for those of you who ended up actually reading this whole thing, my sincere apologizes, I do tend to let it get a little out of hand every now and then. So, to review or not review, that is the question. I won’t bother threatening you this time, seeing as I’ve run out of weapons. I do however, have half a box of pocky with me. I swear to god I do, I was just at my local comic book store today and I had to get a box. But I ate half while writing this, so.....never mind, I want the other half. Nyah. Sorry for taking up your time, I’m really wondering when the deviant who let me on the internet is going to be arrested. Ja ne, and all that jazz...