InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Shadows From the Past ❯ Trouble at the Wolf Den ( Chapter 4 )

Scroll 4

Trouble at the

Wolf Den

 

Koga opened his eyes and looked around, it was not yet sunrise and the cave was very dimly lit by the morning sky. He sat up and looked around, his blue eyes could barely see, but his ears could hear the snoring and heavy breathing of his sleeping comrades. But there was one that of which he could not hear, the soft breath of his captive. Koga gritted his fangs and crawled on all fours over to the bed which San had claimed `hers'. His hands searched the patch where she slept, praying that his nose and ears were lying to him… they weren't. She was gone, again.

San sat down and smiled, she licked her lips as stared at her hand full of strawberries. She started eating them, one by one, all delicious and juicy. She laughed to herself. How easy it was to escape a second time, it was just like a game! She thought to herself, the trill of escaping, not only from the wolf's grasps, but from the hold of her old, boring life back home.

And yet a hollow feeling came with all this new found pride, she couldn't help but feel this way. She still had no home, no one to talk to, and certainly had nothing to care for but herself. San sighed, being alone so long had made her heart cold, sure Sesshomaru had been there, and the villagers, and Toto-sai, but truly, she was alone. She didn't have any friends, and Koga, although crude and rough on the outside, was the closest `friend' she had. And she had left him.

Koga ran through the woods, trees rushed past him, his heart racing- where was she?! He could smell her, she was close. He ran about another five hundred yards or so, only a few fast steps for him, and her breathing was detectable. He landed on soft feet, and stood still, listening.

San stopped chewing and listened herself, although she was in her weaker form, her hearing was exquisite compared to an average human. She knew Koga was just on the other side of the tree which hid her from sight.

She slowly gained enough courage to peek around to see her predator. Koga looked around him, where was she? He screamed inside his head. As his eyes scanned the trees, he whispered to himself:

“Where are you? I know you're out here,” he spoke as if annoyed; he turned his head to his left, looking behind him. As he did this, San quickly, and quietly, hid herself behind the tree once more. She pushed herself into the tree and held her breath.

She looked down at her lap and saw a strawberry… and was about to fall. She pleaded in her head and mouthed, “No, no, no!” She shook her head silently… it fell.

Koga leapt onto the other side of the tree and stared down at the girl, “There you are!” he grabbed her arm. “You have a lot of explaining to do!” he said as San tried to do just that.

Then a hung bang made the earth shake. Both stared in the direction of from which it came, Koga in awe, San in surprise.

Another `earthquake', Koga grabbed San's hand and dragged her behind him, “Let's go!”

 

When they had reached the den, it lay under attack from huge beasts. They were scaly and resembled that of a lizard, but they had feathered wings which stretched out over several yards.

Koga released the girl's hand; she ran over to a bundle of shrubs to their left and pulled them back. She had picked up the scent of yolk and there, hidden in the bushes, were several large eggs, all broken open, and all the size of a large rabbit.

The bird things flew overhead and made a screech that even pierced San's weak ears. They swooped down, and opened their talons. One grabbed a tree, instead of Koga; another, the head of a wolf, growing bigger once having eaten it.

Another swooped low and picked up Hakku. San stood and raced after him, grabbing his leg as he screamed in fear.

“Idiot!” Koga yelled, for fearing of losing his friend and his shard seeker. “What the hell do you think your doin'?!” he growled, running after them.

Damn it! I'm not strong enough to defeat this thing! San became aware of this fact and knew it would cost her her life if she didn't come up with a plan, and quick.

She pulled the Jewel from her pouch and slapped it against her shoulder. She only then released her hand after seeing her bangs turn a white-silver. She then tore into the demon with her claws, slicing its foot clean off.

They began to fall, her and Hakku, and both began to scream on their decent to earth. Koga ran and jumped high into the air and caught Hakku, but San fell out of reach. He tried to grab her hand, and she frantically clawed the air for his. But it was no use. The injured demon `bird' plunged under her and San felt the hard cover of its back against hers. She winced in her pain, and sat up in a way in which her balance was lost from her.

Her hand slid beneath her, and she rolled down off the demon's back. She hid her face fearing the impact. Koga had landed by this time and had placed Hakku on the ground. He looked up to see her falling, he dashed under her, arms wide, and caught her, but gravity pulled them to the ground any way.

“Oh sure!” he heard San say in an upset, and almost drunken tone from the exhilaration. “Save the wolf!”

“There's too many of them!” Ginta screamed.

Koga stood and pulled San up, looked at her he spoke seriously, “You!” He shook her to get her to stand up straight. “Your sword is the Tetsusaiga, is it not?”

“Yes, but-!”

“Then prove to me you are that Mutt's daughter, use the sword to kill the birds!”

“What?! I don't know how to wield it!” she cried out hysterically.

Koga's grim face soon came, “What the hell do you mean you `don't know how to wield it'?!” he growled, angered.

“I only just received it a few days ago! I was gonna learn how to in about a week!” She squeaked, almost in tears.

“If you're dog-face's daughter, then it's in your blood! You can wield it! I know you can!” his angered voice was rough, but reassuring. San pulled the sword from its sheath, it did not transform. She stared at the bids overhead. “Damn it girl! Do as I say!”

“Look,” San turned her attention to the wolf man. “I don't give a damn what you say! You're not my boss!”

“Uh, guys,” Ginta squeaked. Both turned to look at him, he pointed to the sky, “This is no time for petty arguments!”

He was right, and now that the hybrid felt her point had been made, somewhat, `clear' to Koga she started smelling the air. Vaguely, she did remember how her father had used the sword, but although there was enough wind where the two auras clashed, the fang would not transform.

Then San felt a pick on the back of hr neck, she slapped it, it felt like a flea! San paused and stared at the dot in her hand, it was Myoga. “Myoga!” She squealed, “Quick! Tell me how to make the Tetsusaiga transform!”

“The Tetsusaiga?!” the flea exclaimed, hopping up and down. “Why do you have my Lord Inu-yasha's Tetsusaiga?!”

“'Cause! -I'll explain later!” she pleaded.

Myoga tasted the blood in his mouth, it tingled like his old Master, his Lord's father, “You are Master Inu-yasha's-!”

“Yes! Just hurry up!” she barked.

“Indeed!” he looked at her, still in surprise. “Your grandfather used the Tetsusaiga to protect your grandmother.”

“Yes, I know that!”

“-Then you must find a purpose to use the fang, something to protect.”

The girl stared at him, was he serious?! Did she have to have a cause to use the sword?! “But what can I protect without-?”

A wolf's death defying howl stopped her short; there it was… her friends were in trouble. She felt a pulse to the hilt of the sword. She stared at it, slowly it became slightly bigger.

San turned back to the demons, she smiled wickedly and felt the flea leave her side, she charged and jammed the `bird' right in the middle, it tore rather easily, another pulse came from the fang. Koga stared himself, it was kind of neat to watch a `little girl' tackle a thing like that.

She turned the fang inside it and pulled it free. The demon crashed to the ground. All other `birds' retreated from their lower positions and screeched that dreadful screech again. San covered her ears; she knew it must have been painful to the wolves. She landed next to Koga and watched them fly around, they all swooped down, mouths ajar in furry. They made a coughing sound and spat up fire, and it fell upon the forest.

San, Koga, and the rest of the wolves, or what was left of them, stared in fear. The wolves' let out a sorrow filled cry, their home was being burned.

Koga stared and dashed towards his companions, but the demons dove again and spread the fire between them. He could hear them on the other side throwing water and dirt over the place, trying to smother the flames; all efforts were for not in the end.

San ran over to Koga, “Now what?” she asked, watching the blaze close in on them.

“We jump over it,” he said plainly.

“We, what-?”

“Jump!” the man ordered, taking up her hand and leaving the burning ground. The problem of jumping over the fire was that they really didn't know how big it had grown in the time spent talking, and of all the smoke that clouded the air.

San began to fall as gravity was cruel to her, so she climbed onto the wolf's back, and covered her mouth. Koga did the same and held tightly to his jewel seer. He had heard what the flea had said amongst the commotion and halfway believing it by that point.

He could feel the pulsing of the fang himself, “Aren't you going to put that thing away?”

San looked at him dumbly and then put the fang in the scabbard, “Sorry.”

“It's okay, we'll get out of this,” he stated plainly, the girl wasn't really worried and later she figured out that it was reassurance for himself.

“I know we will,” she smiled, but didn't uncover her mouth.

She looked over to her right, the bird things were leaving; there was a shining

something in the `leader', it was carrying a jewel shard within its scaly neck. San narrowed her eyes, this was no time to be worrying about a stupid shard; she could find it later.

She noticed that Koga only searched the ground for an end so he could find his pack; he didn't seem to realize that most of the forest was either ash or was becoming it; more likely it was that he did see and just ignored the pain for time being.

She felt really bad, and try as she might, the smoke soon filled her lungs and she began to cough. Her throat felt dry and red, San stared coughing without an end.

“You okay?” Koga looked over her shoulder to see the cur.

“Yeah, I'm fine, but the smoke,” she managed in the course of her fits, but nothing more came through that understandable.

“Just hang in a little longer,” he said, landing on a branch of a burning tree, it was a higher branch, and the flames had not gotten very far up it because it was exceedingly green and refused to burn.

After a moment or two, Koga kicked off again, and they weren't in the air a full two minutes before Koga finally spotted his pack, he smiled and looked over his shoulder to see the girl. “Hey San-!” he stopped, she had her head lying on his shoulder blades, and no longer held her hand over her mouth. She had stopped the coughing, and her breathing was light, but scarce.

He soon touched down, but his legs failed him on the ground. Koga fell over and San with him. His comrades rushed over to him and were all in frenzy about San, trying to revive her. Koga, meanwhile, was running around in a circle, creating a tornado of dirt and wind, he set it's course upon the fire and it began smothering the flames.

He then turned back to the circle, his friends helped San stand up, she woozy and tired. Koga stared at her and the last of the pack which stood around her, “Yeah, I'm fine! But I am touched by your concern!” their leader joked, placing a hand on his chest, and acted like they were doing the same to him.

He was acting so comical so that his shard seer would feel better, and hopefully laugh at how banal he was playing this role.

The blazing fire came to a roaring halt soon afterwards, only smoldering embers were left dying. Koga and his small `family' looked upon it in distress. Their den had been left unharmed, but the forest was gone. How were they to manage?

Koga sighed and walked around the now blackened place, what was there left to do? He felt a hand rest on his shoulder. He turned to see San, trying her best to stay standing, she had a pity smile on her face which held within it the message, “It'll get better, don't worry.”

Koga gave her a slight smile, but it faded when he looked back at the coals. San's disappeared afterwards too. She released her hold of him a staggered back to the den. Koga sighed and left the miserable sight, he closed his eyes tightly until he was safely hidden inside the cave behind the waterfall.