InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Silver turns to Red ❯ Chapter 6 - Homeward Bound ( Chapter 6 )

Dedicated to Silver Wolf my latest reviewer and supporter and to my fantastic beta, without which this story wouldn't be half as good as it is.

 

I'm sorry this took so long, but I was originally going to make this a very long chapter, but after almost a month and at 18 pages it's still not finished. I didn't think it was fair to make you lovely people wait any longer so without further ado I give you the latest chapter in this saga.

 

 

Chapter 6 - Homeward Bound

 

 

Dawn's early rays barely illuminate the large, snow-covered clearing, as dainty snowflakes scatter upon the three resting creatures. The two females sleep peacefully in the gentle embrace of the great white hound as he keeps the vulnerable members of his pack safe and warm from the inclement weather. Unlike the tired humans, he is not truly asleep as he is able to keep the instinctual portion of his mind awake and alert for any possible threats. Therefore as his rational mind sleeps and his body recuperates, the more primal part of himself analyzes the strange new female that fate has placed in his company.

 

Once he laid down next to the woman he is pleased by her ready acceptance of the situation as he feels her relaxing against him. His rational side is already asleep but is almost startled into wakefulness when he feels her fingers gently scratching behind his sensitive ears. But he soon calms down, growling contentedly as the strange woman affectionately strokes his fuzzy ears, like a beloved mate. Realizing the oddity of the situation he flicks his ears away from the vexing woman's wandering fingers and gruffly commands the female to go to sleep. He is amused by her disgruntled snort at his brusque command but she quickly falls asleep buried in his fury body.

 

Sniffing the air he determines that there is nothing unusual in the area and certainly nothing dangerous as his presence, even while resting, is enough to keep most predators from even contemplating attacking. His nostrils twitch as he takes in more of the strange woman's scent than he was able to last night because of the foul weather. `What is this mysterious aroma permeating her body? It completely eludes me…in all my travels I have never come across such a delightful scent. It is a quite pleasant and wonderfully calming perfume she must have rubbed into her skin.' Sniffing again he confirms that it mixes well with her natural odor, which he happily notes is practically nonexistent. It is his experience that most human's - whether they bathe regularly or not - always have a lingering offensiveness to their scent.

 

Blinking his crimson eyes open he finds himself practically eye to eye with the alluring woman, who was now snuggling up against him, as if he were a giant `Teddy Bear'. Letting his eyes wander over her soft features, he admires her long eyelashes as they fan out against her smooth fair skin, with a light dusting of freckles across her nose. His attention is drawn toward a few strands of pale red hair peeking out from her hood as they curl delicately upon her rosy cheek. `Humm…I wonder what her skin tastes like…would it be as sweet as it smells?' he wonders just before he catches himself about to lick that captivating cheek. Mentally reprimanding himself, for such behavior is most inappropriate to someone of his station. `Besides' I think, `I should be treating her with great courtesy, since she went out of her way to protect my pup, during that horrible storm.' Attempting to justify his behavior, he reasons, `I must be more tired than I thought.' Sparing another glance at the young woman, his eyes wander over her lush lips, slightly chapped from the frosty air - stirring a desire to heal them with a lick of my tongue. `Dear god, what is this woman doing to me!' mentally groaning he quickly distracts himself by glancing around the quickly brightening land.

 

He avoids looking directly at the woman again for fear he might truly embarrass himself and begins noting the humans' steady breathing and small sighs as signs that they will soon awaken from their deep, restorative sleep. Glancing at the sky, he decides that they must begin their journey now, before the storm intensifies once more. He brushes his wet nose under the woman's chin, attempting to gently nuzzle her to wakefulness. His efforts are in vain as she roughly bats him away, mumbling in English, “Stop Bran” and proceeds to burrow even further into his warm fur.

 

In retaliation to his gentle ministrations he lets an irate rumble shake her nice fluffy bed and jabs her sharply in her side, causing her to awaken with an outraged cry, “What the hell was that for, you mangy cur?” She is immediately taken aback by the disgruntled sight of a dog who is most certainly not Bran. `That's not Bran? What's going on? Where am I?' are just a few of the hectic thoughts racing through her mind as she hastily looks about at the frozen terrain, trying to remember how she got here. With a heavy sigh she quickly composes herself while shooting a dark look at the offending canine.

 

Unlike Tara's stressful awakening, Rin gently rouses from the land of slumber upon recognizing the reverberations under her head. She stretches languidly and greets the two adults with an almost offensively perky “Good Morning!” She then soundly swats the white monstrosity in the ribs, not so subtly telling him that she wishes to get up.

 

He lurches to his feet, a bit unsteadily at first due to his stiff muscles, but quickly enough untangles himself from his charges. As he stands, he shrugs off the huge snowdrift that formed on his pale fur during the night. Noticing the many snowy inclines surrounding them he decides to aid his females in their trek to the privacy of the forest so they may attend to their morning needs by packing the powdery snow under his large fuzzy paws, swiftly creating a neat path.

 

Once finished with that task he decides to walk about the clearing for a few minutes to further stretch and warm-up his taut muscles while he waits for the rest of his pack to ready themselves for the coming journey. After a few minutes he hears the woman struggling through the snow only to stop abruptly. Turning about to see what is going on he is unsettled by her surprised expression upon realizing he's missing his left front leg. `I wonder if it makes her uncomfortable? I know most humans are repulsed by deformities. Honestly, I often forget that it is missing as I have been without it for years and have learned to do without it quite well.' His worries are quickly dispelled when she smiles up at him while gradually approaching the formidable inuyoukai.

 

With only a few inches separating them, she slowly raises her hand towards his muzzle intending to greet him as an equal by allowing him to sample her scent as a way of showing she wished to become a part of his pack. Usually, when a lone female wishes to become a member of a pack she will greet the alpha male by submissively exposing her neck and torso to him. Looking up at the tall inuyoukai she inadvertently defers to him by showing off just a bit of her pale throat, meeting his bejeweled eyes for just a moment. By not locking her gaze with his, she conveys to him the message, `We are equals but out of respect for your position I will defer to you as alpha.' With a guarded look to his eyes, he lowers his head and nuzzles her outstretched palm, even taking a sly lick as he accepts her into his pack. `This woman is quite the mystery. Last night she greets me like a threatened inuyoukai female, (which I don't even need to tell you how bizarre that was since she is completely human!) then today she formally greets me as one warrior to another? Female warriors are rather rare in inuyoukai society. I know they are almost unheard of in human society.' With a final snuffle, he peers into her surprised eyes, `I shall enjoy learning more about this woman.'

 

`Wow, I can't believe he just licked me! If Bran's tongue had ever felt that nice I doubt I'd have broken him of the habit. I swear he actually had a delighted, almost human, grin on his face when he did it. This is one really strange dog.'

 

They stare at each other for a few moments, until Tara breaks the ice, “That must have been quite a fight?” she says directing her gaze to the stub of his left foreleg. “I hope you gave as good as you got.”

 

Raising one floppy ear in surprise at this strange saying, he doesn't know exactly what she meant, but after observing her pleased expression and aura, he decides to take it as a compliment.

 

She steps forward and absently mindedly begins stroking his neck, picking tiny icicles off his silky white fur as she continues her conversation with the silent Lord.

 

“You are definitely the biggest dog I've ever seen. I thought Bran was huge, but noooo, he's just a little puppy compared to you.” She giggles softly at her own joke. “Bran's my dog, if you were curious.” she says as he cocks his head toward her melodious voice. My Da wouldn't let me leave home without his `trusted wolfhound to guard and protect his baby girl's virtue'” she says the last part in a deep, patronizingly gruff tone, obviously meant to imitate her Father. He lowers his head to better appraise the woman standing before him and to get a better whiff of her delicious aroma.

 

She slowly brings her hand to his head and lightly strokes the jagged lines, “I wonder if these purple slashes across your muzzle have any significance?” He makes an agitated noise in the back of his throat at the ignorance of the woman, but when her nimble fingers begin fondling his ears he gladly leans into the caress.

 

Laughing happily, “You like that don't you boy” she says as she leans into his chest, rubbing her face in the downy fur as another laugh escapes her throat, its bell-like tone tickling his senses. Peering up at him, with a quizzical expression, “I swear I've seen that crescent moon, and even those stripes before” she queries. “Oh well, I'm sure it will come back to me sometime. Besides they're probably just your master's markings, to show which Lord you belong to.”

 

`So, she believes this Sesshoumaru has a master' he smirks as an idea forms in his mind, something he hasn't considered since he was young. While she continues to stroke his ears, he decides to put all he has learned to memory with the intention of examining it later. He soon sees Rin bounding towards them like a happy little puppy.

 

Tara straightens away from the great dog just as Rin reaches the beast's side. She takes but a moment to catch her breath before rambling excitedly, “I'm so glad you came to rescue us, Sesshoumaru-sama. We probably would have been all right though. We built a very good hut and a nice fire, but I was very happy to see you anyway,” she gushes. Her honey tinged eyes dart back and forth, surveying the two adults as a nagging feeling rapidly envelops her being until it finally dawns on her that she has neglected the etiquette befitting a lady of her Lord's house. She straightens to her full, still quite diminutive height creating her impression of noblewoman as she respectfully bows toward the magnificent beast, and speaks with all the pomp and circumstance of a regal herald, causing the other woman to suck on her bottom lip to keep from giggling.

 

“Allow me to introduce you to my new companion. Tara-san, I present to you my guardian, Sesshoumaru-sama. Sesshoumaru-sama, may I present Tara-san, my rescuer.”

 

Impatiently acknowledging the introductions, he jerks his head sharply over his shoulder, indicating that the females should climb onto his back. He sees the woman comprehend his silent commands and quickly races to the well, grabbing her satchel, shield, and bow and full quiver. Swiftly she slings the shield and quiver onto her back and slides the bulging pack over her shoulder. `How strange…this woman is practically an army unto herself' he ponders the oddness that is Tara-san as he lays in the snow waiting for her to return and position herself behind Rin. With practiced ease she straddles the great beast as if he were merely a furry horse and not a giant three legged dog. Carefully rising so as not to dislodge his passengers, he takes a few tentative strides. Feeling that they have a secure hold on his thick bushy mane, he picks up speed. Soon his strength and size become apparent as they race though the snowy terrain towards his mountainous abode.

 

 

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Honestly I can't stand waiting this long to update so I think I'm going to try updating scene by scene, that way I might actually update per week instead of once a month, which is simply intolerable.

 

Anyway, please review so I know whether this is headed in the right direction or not.

 

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha that privilege belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I do however own Tara O'Connor and her dog Bran.