InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Risen in Patria ❯ The Lord and the Outcast ( Chapter 2 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Risen in Patria

Summary: Years ago, a great war left the lands scarred with demons and humans hateful of each other.  Now the fallen Taisho Inuyasha has been turned into his own worst nightmare, but he finds his strength in the wild, beautiful Kagome Higurashi.  Together, the two must decipher the kingdom’s history to prevent a ruthless tyrant from destroying their homes and lives.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Inuyasha.

WARNINGS: Implied rape, implied character death, implied torture, mild sexual content, violence, mild gore, OOC, language

Again, please heed the warnings.

Miscellanies:

Word Count – 5870
Post Date – May 12, 2012

The Lord and the Outcast

Naraku paced furiously along the well-crafted floors of his new castle.  Picking up one of the various antique weapons lining the walls, he threw it viciously at one of the ornate paper screens, tearing a hole straight through.  When the trembling, brown-haired girl to his side squeaked in surprise and fear, he turned hateful eyes on her.

“You had one thing to do, whore, and you fucked it up.  One thing,” he growled, inwardly relishing her terrified blue eyes and tears.

“P-please, Master Naraku!  I-I did exactly as you asked.  I swear!”  She cried out in that strange northern accent of hers and bowed her head to the floor, praying with all her might that he might spare her.

Naraku picked her up by her neck, squeezing just hard enough for her to draw in panicked breaths.  “I didn’t ‘ask,’ whore.  Masters don’t ask their servants to do their bidding, much less their whores.”  Tossing her to the ground, which was unfortunately cushioned enough that he was sure she wasn’t as hurt as he wanted, he began pacing again.  “You’ve fucked up my plans.  How do you think you should be punished for it?”

The girl lowered herself to the floor once more, pleading through her sobs.  “Please, Master Naraku, s-sp-spare me.  I only wanted to serve you!  I-I’m sorry for whatever I’ve done wrong!”  He looked down at her mussed and tangled hair, the same hair he once caressed lovingly, and smiled to himself.  He tried to imagine, for a moment, what this must seem like in her eyes.  Not even a month ago he had been the kind, generous and powerful demon who was willing to bring her family out of debt and to save her from those who hunted her.  All he wanted in exchange was her body, and she had let him fuck her willingly...until he got too rough and angry, until he began to demand more.  He looked down amusedly at the girl and slowly made his way to her kneeling form.

Softening his voice and gently stroking her hair so that she looked up in shock, her face easily giving away her barely concealed hope.  “Poor girl.  You’re lucky I won’t kill you like I did your father and the sad, little Lord of this house.”  He faced the eviscerated bodies of the two in the corner of the room and put his hand on his chin, feigning deep thought.  “Well, I guess he’s not the Lord anymore.  I am, huh?”

She nodded quickly, trying to do anything she could to appease the angered demon.  “T-t-thank you, Master Naraku.”  Bowing her head to the floor, she waited for him to give her the cue to stand.  She tried to stop the terror that shot through her veins as soon as he began to chuckle.  It was never good when he began to laugh.

“Little princess,” he chuckled, using the nickname he’d given her when he first offered to ‘pay off her debt,’ “You still need to be punished for your failure.  Carry the dish from one point to the next.  That’s all you had to do.”  He laughed louder at her quickening heartbeat and beckoned for her to stand.  She arose with shaking knees and he began to circle her like a wolf hunting its prey, gently tracing a finger down her cheek in the same path her tears were taking.  

He grabbed her by the waist of her dirtied dress, walking them both out of the room and down the hall.  They approached a sliding door and she could hear boisterous laughter inside.  Naraku slammed the sliding door open and roughly shoved her in, grabbing the back of her dress so she fell to the floor nude and screaming in terror.  He tossed the rags out of her reach and turned to address the two men whose attention was now distracted by the sobbing, naked girl on the floor.

“I’ve tired of her,” he explained simply.

One of the men stood up, stretching and eyeing her trembling form and grinned, “Finally...Something to do.”

Naraku shared a laugh with the man and said, “Just don’t hurt her too bad.  I may still have use for her yet, even as idiotic as she is.”  

He moved to leave when her voice stopped him.  “I’ll be better, Master Naraku!  Please...please...” She wanted to finish, ‘...not him...’ but couldn’t get the words out of her mouth.  She would take Naraku, cruel and violent as he was, over the human currently leering at her any day.  Naraku didn’t make her skin crawl the way he did.  Naraku didn’t poison the air with a mere smirk the way he did.

Ignoring her pleas entirely, he resumed leaving, only pausing to say, “Oh, Onigumo, when you’re done, I’ve got something else for you to do.”  Naraku closed the door behind him and walked away, listening as the girl’s hysterical sobs and the screams that soon followed slowly faded away behind him.

He entered one of the bedrooms and dug up piles of soft and silky outfits, lining them up carefully on the fireplace mantel before taking a seat at the side of the blazing fire.  As he waited patiently for the men to finish with the girl, he thought about how to proceed with his plans.  

He would have laughed at the girl had he not been so enraged.  If there was anything he was sure about, it was that the screw up hadn’t been her fault.  It had to have been one of the other two, he knew, but neither of them would have taken what he had thrown at his little princess.  What he couldn’t figure out was what the fuck had happened that apparently stopped the Taisho’s transformation.  If his little spiders were correct, the newly crowned Taisho had stumbled out of the castle, completely drunk, but also completely human.

The sound of heavy but swift footsteps roused him from his thoughts.  Onigumo pushed open the door, still in the middle of tying his obi shut, and entered the room.

“I liked that one.  I might want to have her again,” he said, lust still clear in his eyes.

“What’s mine is yours, my friend.”  Naraku turned back to the fire and remarked, “There’s no point in putting those clothes back on.”  Onigumo’s hands stilled and he let the cloth fall to the side.  Pausing for just a moment, he resumed talking.  “Are you afraid of fire, Onigumo?”

Without saying a word, Onigumo moved forward and thrust his bare arm into the flames, and Naraku watched in mild fascination as the fire danced on his skin, forming bright red blisters and bloody trails until the smell of burning skin started to overwhelm his nose.  Onigumo quickly removed his arm and Naraku could see the shadow of a pained grimace on his face.  He wouldn’t have guessed; Onigumo hadn’t made a sound the entire time.

“Hmm...I suppose great minds do think alike,” Naraku commented pleasantly and waved his hand at the piles of clothes on the mantelpiece.  “Get dressed.  You’re going to visit an old...friend of mine, the Higurashi girl.”
__________________________________________________________ ______________

Two amber eyes stared back at him as he looked in the pool.  He brought his eyes down to the mouth’s reflection and watched as his tongue traced the newly formed fangs in his mouth.  The golden orbs made their way back up to his hair and he looked at long, silvery hair that was now long enough to rest on his back.  Finally, he sought out the two silver, furry ears that sat atop his head, occasionally twitching at their own will.  Roaring angrily, he slashed at the pool with his claws and looked away disgustedly even as his hands destroyed the hated image.

He had woken up nearly a week ago, five or six days was his best guess, and he was about to go insane.  Every time he caught a glance of his face in the water, he wanted to tear it off, destroy the animalistic features that now haunted his looks.  He had spent day and night exhausting his mind trying to figure out what happened that night, how he had gotten himself cursed, and what in the seven hells his name was.

It frustrated him to no end.  He remembered his friends, his life and though he had no memories of the party itself, he had deduced that he must have drank his head off at his coronation ceremony - hell he even remembered what he had for breakfast the morning before his coronation.  ‘Why the hell can’t I remember my name?!’ He raged inwardly.

“Inuyasha.” The forest had whispered those words to him when he woke.  He tried the word on his tongue.  It sounded strangely familiar.  “Inuyasha,” he tried again, clearing his throat since it had grown course after days of little to no use.

He had tried to think of himself as Inuyasha, but he refused to acknowledge it aloud.  Inuyasha was a savage name, the name of a demon.

‘I’m a demon now, sure, but as soon as I find someone to lift this fucking curse, I’ll be back to myself and I will personally dismember whoever did this.’  The issue was, however, that he had no idea how to go about getting himself cured.  In the palace, people came to him, not the other way around.  Then there was the fact that he couldn’t get past most of the Northern guards.  They were taught to attack, shoot and kill demons on sight - he had trained them himself - and he knew that a number of them had purification powers too. ‘That’s fucking irony for you.’

Grumbling frustratedly, he used his newfound strength to leap upwards to the branch and settled as comfortably as he could against the tree trunk that was his temporary home.  He sat miserably, pulling his knees in to keep warm.

‘I need help,’ he admitted to himself.  While he could hunt animals down easily - he was a talented hunter even before the dreadful curse - he had no idea how to cook them or prepare them for eating, and more importantly, he simply had no idea how to take care of himself.  There were no delicious soups, fragrant soaps, sweet pies lining the kitchen counters, clean cloths or warm blankets in the wilderness.  He wanted this nightmare to be over, for him to wake up in his own warm bed, preferably with a beautiful and naked Kagome Higurashi wrapped around him, and for him to be human again.

Glancing upwards to curse at the gods, he saw a dark shadow drift through the sky, in the direction of the south.  ‘Demons! Where are they headed?’  Excited by the sudden adrenaline rush at the thought of fighting demons again, he took off in the direction they appeared to be heading, happy to have the distraction from his miserable thoughts.  

It wasn’t long before both he and the horde of demons reached the boundaries of the forest.  He could see a small village up ahead and sped up as the demons descended.  The Northern guards had already formed a defensive line, hacking and shooting at the dozens of demons attacking from above, and he threw himself into the fray, sharpening his claws on demon flesh.  

Far too soon, the horde began thinning, and he hunted down the last few stragglers, slicing them down before the human guards could react.  As soon as the last of the wild demons were dead, the guards turned their swords, spears and arrows on him.

“Demon!  Prepare to die!” One of the men yelled before the whole group charged at him.

“Stop!  I was helping you, you fools!” He leapt back to avoid their spears.  When they readied their swords again, he jumped forward, swiping his claws just close enough to force them backwards.

An arrow flew at him from the side and he barely managed to dodge it in time.  “Fucking idiots!  Goddamn it, if you don’t stop, I’ll have you all killed when I turn back!” he threatened furiously.  

Ignoring his threats, the men quickly surrounded him and he wondered briefly if perhaps it would be smarter to flee.  He had no desire to kill the humans, but they clearly wanted his head.  As he crouched low to spring, a glimmering light appeared in his periphery, and suddenly there was blinding pain.

“AH-hhh!” He screamed out, unable to hold it back as the purifying arrow hit him right in the side.  His eyes were clenched in pain and he cried out again as one of the men took advantage of his wound and managed to slash him across his arm with a sword.  Swinging his arm wildly and cutting down anyone in his path, he made a leap in the general direction of the forest and limp-ran as fast as he could.  He could feel himself getting weaker and weaker, the wounds growing more and more painful before he collapsed on the dirt floor.

“Help...” He tried to get out, eyes straining to see if there was anyone around him.  The world around him began blurring, and he curled on his side to try and stop the pain from the protruding arrow.  “...help...” He tried again, but his voice came out as a pained gasp.  The dirt and trees around him were fading away when he caught a familiar and comforting scent that instantly relaxed him despite the agonizing wound at his side.  He saw a woman enter his field of vision and blinked desperately to clear the image.

As she ran closer and dropped in front of him to assess his injuries, he could feel the sweet and gentle scent envelop him and slowly lure him into the darkness.  While he couldn’t see her face, somehow his nose told him who had found him.

‘Kagome...’  Feeling warm hands on him, he let the blackness take him.

_____________________________________________________________ ___________

Sango heard the gong echoing throughout the mostly empty halls of the temple and did her best to ignore the loud ringing.  She folded her hands in her lap and bowed her head, praying to any gods that were listening.

‘Please bring my little brother home safely to me.  I have done what I can to get him back...I don’t want anything else but to be with him again.  Please, please give him back to me.’  She kept head bowed and begged the gods for their mercy.  Rising slowly, she moved to stick her incense sticks in the tiny bowls of sand, allowing the smoke to cloud her mind for a moment.  A number of beautiful drawings, most depicting the artists’ interpretations of the gods, lined the temple walls, but Sango ignored them all.  She had spent over two weeks praying to those gods and no good had come of it.  Now she prayed to the foreigners’ gods and hoped that her words would reach them even though the temple was dedicated to the other gods.

Turning slowly, she stepped down from the prayer altar and left the temple without another glance at the building.  The days were getting colder as fall came upon the kingdom’s capital and Sango wrapped her thin clothes tighter around herself as she made her way back to the kitchen.

“Hi, Kaede.  I hope I’m not late.”  

“No, Sango.” Kaede looked up from the stew she was making and smiled kindly at her.  “I do need you to bring some of this to the council meeting.”  Kaede rolled a large tray of soups and steamed vegetables to her and waved her off to the council room.

Doing as she was asked, Sango began rolling the cart of food out of the kitchen and down the halls, though her mind was completely distracted by thoughts of her brother, of what she would be willing to do to get him back.  Before she even realized, she reached the large council room.  She gave three sharp raps on the door and carefully pushed open the enormous wooden doors.  

The men and women appeared to be in a heated debate, but quieted as soon as Sango entered the room.  “My Ladies, My Lords,” she curtseyed politely and moved to serve her dishes.  As quickly as they quieted, the councilors resumed talking.

“We can’t carry on like this.  This...This façade will fall apart sooner rather than later, and there will be chaos if the people find out by other means,” one of the older men on the council advised.

“We can and we must.  Six hundred men have already been dispatched - North, South, and West of the Capital - and there has been no news at all,” a young woman insisted.  Sango looked up for a moment and guessed that the woman must have been the head of the Capital’s military.  Dressed in a strange combination of metal and an unidentifiable armor, she looked the part of the no-nonsense military leader.

As she set down the last dish, she heard another voice from the opposite side of the round table speak.  “We’ll find him.  People don’t simply drop off the face of the planet, my friends.  Until then, it will be kept within this table.”  

‘Are they talking about the...Taisho?’ Sango asked herself.  ‘What do they mean they need to find him?’  Her interest was peaked, and she knew this information was valuable.

She looked up to see who had spoken and allowed a deep blush to make its way onto her face when she saw the handsome lord’s deep violet eyes already focused on her.  She recognized lust when she saw it and felt his apparent attention was too good an opportunity to pass up.  She hastily made her way back to the tray, feigning shyness but subtly arching her back to draw his eyes to her backside.  “Maid,” he addressed her and she turned to face him again.  “I’ve finished with my meal,” he continued and beckoned her over to collect the dish and bowl.  Turning momentarily to the council members, he dismissed them all.  The councilors stood and left, but he remained seated, watching her with an unwavering gaze as she finished collecting their plates.

When she moved to set the dishes on her tray, he stood up and slowly strode over to her silent form.  Sango ignored his looming presence behind her, but froze when she felt a squeezing hand against her bottom and his hard chest against her back.

“What’s you name, maid?” He asked flirtatiously, leaning over her shoulder and brushing her hair behind her ear as he gently squeezed her ass.

“M-my L-lord,” she managed and told herself that the stutter was on purpose.

He interrupted and corrected her, “Call me Miroku.”

She could feel the hand not resting on her ass slither to the front and between the crevice in her thighs.  “M-my Lord Miroku...” she let a gasp escape when his fingers deftly slipped into the folds of her serving shirt and began rubbing her wet lips.  He clenched his jaw when he realized she wasn’t wearing any undergarments.  

“I’m Sango...” She moaned out, and a light grin made its way onto her face when she heard him sigh and rock himself against the curve of her bottom.

“Well, Sango, how would you like to bear my children?”  He groaned out as she pushed back and ground her ass against his clothed bulge.

‘Bear the child of the wealthiest and second most powerful man in all the kingdom?  This is too easy.’  She pushed the tray out of the way, turned to face him and sat back on the counter.  Spreading her knees seductively so that he couldn’t tear his needy gaze from her, she firmly but gently grasped the bulge at the front of his robes and tugged him forward.  

As he quickly unrobed, she reminded herself, ‘This is for Kohaku,’ and slowly parted the folds of her dress.

“I’d love to, my Lord.”
__________________________________________________________ ______________

Kagome worked with the speed of an experienced healer, swiftly applying pressure on the man’s wounds and dressing it efficiently.  The man - no, the hanyou - had appeared out of absolutely nowhere, stumbling into her hunting territory, bleeding and quickly fading away.  She had used nearly all her strength to carry the huge and weighty man back to her home and considered herself - and the then-dying hanyou - lucky that she hadn’t wandered too far from her current home.

Luckily, he was unconscious during the worst of it as she removed the arrow and dressed his more serious wounds.

‘He must have been injured by some of those Northern guards,’ she thought to herself angrily.  It was times like these that she realized, despite all the terrible things that might have happened to her, she never had to suffer the same way hanyou and demon did.  Driven out of their homes, purified or slaughtered on sight if they were lucky, and tortured endlessly if they weren’t.  It used to cross her mind that perhaps the demons were at fault, but now, having seen many years of conflict between the North and the demons in the wild, she’d walked away with a bias against the “guards” of the North.  

Looking down at the face of the hanyou, she felt a strange pang go through her.  His face was no longer contorted in a pained grimace, but relaxed by the soothing salve and the peace of sleep.  ‘Though I do have to wonder why he would even come so close to the villages.  Most demons have learned how stupid that is...the Taisho has made sure to teach them well,’ she thought bitterly before trying to stomp down all thoughts of him.

Unfortunately, his unwelcome face popped up in her mind and she found herself torn between anger and shame at the memory of what happened two weeks ago.  She’d seen her family fall apart, her cousins, aunts, uncles, parents raped and slaughtered, and she had vowed never to allow herself to feel so helpless and weak ever again.  But when the time came and he towered over her, threatening pain unless she submitted, she was weak.  She allowed the spoilt and cruel Taisho what he wanted.

‘And what’s worse,’ she thought, angry at herself, ‘I let myself...enjoy it.’  She had spent the days after she fled his castle consumed by shame.  She’d repeated over and over again to herself that his touch brought her no pleasure, that she submitted because the Taisho would have had her killed - perhaps her remaining family killed as well, as the ruthless prince was occasionally rumored to do - had she refused, and she tried to ignore the nights she woke up in a sweat, terrified by nightmares of him but unable to deny that she was wet from the dreams of his fingers and thickness rocking against her.  Even now, as she thought of him inside her... - she shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts.  ‘He’s a monster and a rapist.  Nothing’s going to change that,’ she thought while clenching her teeth.  ‘I guess it’s only fair for the world to have a vicious king follow his kind father.’

A light moan from her half-human patient drew her out of her self-hateful thoughts and she turned around to face the rousing hanyou.

She kneeled by his side and lightly stroked his bangs to see his eyes as he wakened.  Half-wakened and tired golden eyes stared up at her in confusion and...adoration?

Ignoring the emotions in his eyes, she asked gently, “Are you alright?”

He blinked drearily at her and took a deep breath, but didn’t offer a response.

“Hello?  Can you understand me?”  That got him to nod tiredly.

“Well...do you have a name, perhaps?”

He seemed to freeze at that and stayed silent for so long that Kagome was sure that he must not speak the common tongue after all.  

Finally, he said somewhat hesitantly, “...Inuyasha,” and winced when that small movement revived the pain in his side.

“I’m Kagome.” He was about to reply that he already knew that, but suddenly remembered he was a hanyou.  He wasn’t supposed to know who she was.  “Inuyasha, then, are you feeling better?” Kagome tried again.

He tried to push himself up to face her and she swore she heard him say her name before he collapsed from the sharp pain shooting down his spine.  Kagome immediately put her hands underneath his head and slowly lowered himself back down.

“Hey, stupid, don’t get up yet.”

When the pain subsided, Inuyasha looked back up at her face and let out a weak “Keh,”
but obeyed her and remained lying down.  When Kagome saw that he would listen, she moved away to get some water for him.

For his part, Inuyasha was sure he was dreaming.  He remembered the agony of the purifying arrow, his desperate retreat into the forest and the feeling of safety as he succumbed to the pain of his injuries.  He had no idea for how long he slept, but he had been woken up by that same, irresistible, indescribable smell.  He’d assumed he was in heaven for a moment, when he awoke to her face, the beauty he had been eyeing for the better part of a year.

Kagome Higurashi.  He’d invited her to his coronation.  That he remembered.  Everything else of that night still evaded him.  Had he asked her for her hand like he planned?  Had she accepted his offer?  He had had a crush - though he didn’t think it sounded right for a man of his status to admit to a “crush” - on Kagome since he first laid eyes on her.  Who wouldn’t be infatuated with such a beautiful woman?  Lucky for him, he had the advantage of being the most powerful man in the kingdom.  If he weren’t so embarrassed and disgusted with himself as a demon, he would just declare to her right then and there that he was Taisho and that they would be married within the week if he had his way - which he always did, he thought with a cocky grin.  Of course, with things as they were now, he’d have to wait until he found a healer and somehow turned back into his normal self.  

She returned soon with a glass of water and he accepted it eagerly, letting her hold his head in her lap and taking in her scent.  “Thanks,” he said hesitantly, unused to giving thanks for things that people always did for him.

She hummed her welcome and commented, “It will still probably take a week or so for you to get better.  The arrow also weakened you enough that you might get an infection from that wound on your arm.  You’re lucky you’re a hanyou, though, you know.  That arrow would have probably killed you if you were full demon. ”

Frowning at the strange term, he asked, “Hanyou?”

Cocking her head in confusion, she mused, “Is that not what it’s called where you’re from?  Half-demons?”

His jaw tensed as disgust raged through him.  ‘Fuck, not only am I a demon, I’m not even a full one.’  Seeing her wait for his response, he managed, “I’m not...from around here.  Sorry.”  If she noticed the sudden tension in his body, she didn’t comment on it.

She did, however, bring a hand up and gently rubbed his fuzzy white ears.  She spoke softly, “Sorry if you were planning on keeping it a secret.  Your ears gave it away.”  He would have paid attention had he not been overwhelmed at the sudden pleasure and contentment that rushed through him as she rubbed.  For a minute, he didn’t care that he hated his ears.  As long as she kept rubbing them right there.  He couldn’t hold back the satisfied growl that left his mouth and his mouth lolled open as she relaxed his entire body.  Never in his life had he felt so good, and he was saying this with a small hole in his body.

For a moment, he began to question how he could ever hate those ears, but her hands suddenly stopped, and he was left to slowly wake from the pleasure-induced haze.  

Lightly snickering to herself at his dazed face, she apologized, “Sorry.  I have to go make us some dinner.”  

“Don’t you have a maid for that?” He asked, disappointed that she would be leaving his presence, taking that incredible scent with her.

“No...I moved out here so I could be alone for a while.  Don’t worry, I can cook better than most maids.”  Inuyasha wanted to demand for her to stay, but remembered that right now, he was a hanyou, and hanyou had no right to ask something like that.

He was left with his thoughts for what felt like an eternity before she returned with two bowls of meat and rice.  As they began eating, Inuyasha asked a question that had been on his mind the entire time she was preparing dinner.  “How come you aren’t...afraid of me?”

She looked up from her meal and gave him a piercing stare.  “Are you planning on hurting me?”

“Well, no but -”

Cutting him off immediately, she answered, “Then I have nothing to be afraid of.”

“But I’m a demon,” he continued and brought his clawed hand to his face, “I could cut you down if I wanted to.”

Raising an eyebrow at him, she confidently asked, “Are you afraid of me?”

“No!  Of course not!” He said rather indignantly.

“Well I could purify you right this second, kill you in your sleep or report you to the Capital.  You have a lot more to fear from me than I from you, I think,” Kagome explained calmly and disregarded his protests.  

“We actually probably have more in common than you think,” she added with a strangely sad smile.

“What do you mean?” Inuyasha pried, figuring that there was no better time than now to get to know his future queen.  His temporary dilemma could be a blessing in disguise if he could use what he learned to woo the beautiful woman.

She paused to think, and began, “I...”  He waited for her to continue more patiently than he ever had before, but she seemed to change her mind and shook her head.  “Nevermind.”  When he seemed disappointed, she added, “Maybe another day...”

Rising and setting their empty bowls on a side table, she moved to gently rub his ears again.  “You need rest.  Just sleep, for now.”  Any thought of protesting flew out of his mind as his whole body succumbed to the sensations of his ears being rubbed so sweetly, and he let the exhaustion from his injuries ease him into sleep.

When Kagome felt him drift off, she carefully removed her hands and looked at the sleeping hanyou, taking in the innocence of his face, his long lashes and the softness of his cheeks and high cheekbones.  She let a smile grace her face and realized that she felt happier with him around than she had felt in the past two weeks.

‘I guess it is pretty lonely out here.  I needed time alone...at first,’ she thought and looked over at Inuyasha once more, ‘but maybe some companionship will help right now.’  He seemed, at least, willing to listen to her.  I’ve been more myself this past hour than I have for days...’

Holding the dirty bowls in hand, she left the room with a smile and the injured hanyou on her mind.
_________________________________________________________________ _______

Kikyo internally rejoiced each time her arrows struck the bullseye.  Her lady-in-waiting sat to the side, clapping graciously each time Kikyo she was successful.  ‘Which is everytime,’ Kikyo thought to herself confidently.

Nearly two hours she had been practicing, mixing in a variety of targets and arrows to keep her skills sharp, and she finally let her arms rest.  A light sheen of sweat had made its way on her face, and she waved over her young brother Souta.

The happy ten year old bounced over, one hand carrying a cool glass of water and the other a towel.  “Thanks, Souta.”  As she dabbed at the sweat on her forehead, she looked at the small wooden sword tied at his side with a string.  “Training to be a fighter?”

“Yeah!” He declared enthusiastically, thrilled that she noticed.  “I’m going to be just like you!”

Looking into his cheerful gray eyes, a gift his father had given him she thought wistfully, she smiled encouragingly.  “Good, Souta.  Being a fighter is honorable.  Higurashis are fighters, don’t forget that.”  She returned the towel and dismissed him.

Turning again to her target, she prepared to let another arrow fly, this time channeling some of her purification energy in, when she saw a bush a little off to the side rustling.  Immediately, her arrow was trained at the bush.  “Who’s there?” She called out harshly.  A man stumbled out of the bush, swaying unsteadily and clutching his arm to his chest.  She took in his ripped, but clearly silken clothes, deducing that he must be some wealthy man who found himself injured and lost in the wild Northern forests.

“Help me...!  Please, my Lady.” He took a step towards her, but collapsed from the weight of his wounds.  Lowering her bow when she realized he wasn’t a demon and wasn’t much of a threat in his condition, she rushed over to help the man, moving to lift his arm over her shoulder when he let out a loud hiss.  She caught a glimpse of his injured arm and had to hold back a gasp.  It had been completely burned, bloody and destroyed.

Shouting out immediately to the frozen lady-in-waiting to get some bandages, she steadily moved the man towards her home.  “How did this happen?  Are you injured elsewhere?

He limped along with her and explained, “I’m a minor lord of a family East of here.  We were attacked by demons out of nowhere.  They burned everything down and killed most of my family.  Luckily, I escaped” Kikyo glanced at his arm again before averting her gaze.  “Thank you for helping me, my Lady.”

“Please call me Kikyo,” she said and smiled as comfortingly as she could at the man.  They made it into the house, and Kikyo gingerly laid him down on a futon.  She was much clumsier with bandages and healing arts than her sister, but she did what she could to sooth and bandage the massive burns on his arm and the cuts he had across his body.  Seeing his clenched teeth and sensing his determination not to make a sound, she thought to herself, ‘He’s so brave.’  When she finished, she asked, “What’s your name, my Lord.”

Holding back a smirk, he feigned a grateful smile and answered, “Lord Onigumo, my Lady.”

Author’s Note:

Many thanks to those who reviewed last chapter!

I wanted to start this chapter off with Naraku and his evil doings to sort of contrast where the Taisho AKA Inuyasha ended last chapter to sort show how despite his meanness, he doesn’t innately enjoy hurting people (like he tries to not hurt Kagome).  Anyway, please review and let me know what interests you, what you like or dislike, etc.  

I hope you enjoy this chapter as well, as it sets up a lot of the coming events, especially now that Onigumo is thrown into the mix as well.  

Finally, if you guys would let me know what you think of the non Inuyasha or Kagome parts, that would be awesome.  I just ask because I’m curious how carefully people actually read them.  In complete honesty, I normally skim the non-Inu or Kag parts in an InuKag story (and funny enough, I tend to skim ANs too, so people like me probably won’t read this either…) just because my mind is normally 100% focused on the InuKag storyline.  It won’t hurt my feelings if you skip those parts, I’m just interested in what people think.