InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Survival of the Pack ❯ Under Fed ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. I do not own the weaponry either… though sometimes I wish I did. ::sigh:: I want my metal chopsticks. ::sniffsniff:: Oh, wait they aren't in this chapter…

Warnings: None

Chapter 2

Kagome sighed. Maybe her sense of smell was off, but she still hadn't found any prey. The last thing she needed was to go back to the den empty handed. The clan was already under fed as is, and a day without food was not going to make the following day any better. With the new arrivals, however, there could possibly be no food for them by tomorrow.

A familiar smell drifted toward her nose, and she growled. "Not again." She clipped off her crossbow from her waist. Silently she pulled an arrow off her belt and clicked it into place. She winced at the loudness of the sound, knowing for sure that the being had heard her.

A figure jumped down from one of the trees before she ever got the locked weapon trained upward for defense. "I thought you ran away, wench?"

Kagome growled, keeping her weapon pointed down. It was all fine and dandy to have it trained on an enemy before they appeared. It was just plain foolish to point it at them when they had already arrived. "I can't play with you right now. I have to get dinner for my clan."

Inuyasha scowled. He wasn't going to let her get off so easy. He made up his mind, and disappeared out of the clearing in a flash.

Kagome's mouth fell open. She obviously missed something here. He was itching for a fight, she knew. She had really ticked him off when she was called away. So, why had he just run off? Kagome never had a chance to regain her senses as the hanyou crashed back into the clearing.

A large animal, slung over his shoulders, was suddenly tossed down at her feet. Inuyasha cracked his neck and hands. "Now that's taken care of. Where were we?"

Kagome slowly closed her fallen jaw. Had he just retrieved food for her? That's something only ma- She broke out of her thoughts rapidly. She turned her gaze to the animal in front of her. It was a large mammal of some sort, bigger than any she had ever personally killed. "That's enough food to feed us for a week!"

It was Inuyasha's turn to look shocked. The beast he had killed would barely feed five of his tribes men in one meal. How many people were in her clan? Were there really that few of them that she didn't have to worry about a large amount of food? Or were they actually starving out here, with too many mouths to feed? He took a hesitant sniff of the air, before catching the scent he feared. She was malnourished... severely. "Oi, wench! How many are you feeding?"

Kagome, without even thinking, responded, "Eight." As soon as the words slipped through her lips she hit her head. "Damn it! You didn't hear that!"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, mostly to hide his shock. Eight mouths to feed? How the hell had the clan members survived? Maybe he should have killed two beasts for her. He pinched himself on that thought. If the bitch couldn't feed her clan properly, then there was little use for her to be a chieftain. How in the world had that group chosen such a poor provider. "For a chieftain, you suck. When was the last time they ate?"

Kagome growled at the insult, but she knew what he said to be true. She couldn't provide for her clan very well. Sango and Miroku were fighters not hunters, so their skills in the hunt were still poor. Shippou, Souta, and Kohaku were still too young to make a successful kill that would feed the group. Kouga was the last line of defense and rarely ever left the den. That just left Rin, whom Kagome was currently teaching the hunt. Black wolves rarely ever taught the females how to hunt. Kagome thought it was the male ego that got in the way.

She sighed, the fire of the fight leaving her eyes as she looked at the white hanyou. There was no point in beating around the bush anymore. If anything, maybe the new clan would leave them be. After all, eight creatures were hardly worth their time or energy to bother with. Then again, they could move on too, finding the lack of food sufficient for only a small clan. That would be a better option. "Yesterday evening. It was our one meal for the day."

"One meal?! What are you trying to do? Kill them all?"

Kagome's shoulders sagged slightly. She glanced down at her crossbow, removing the arrow and placing it at her waist. There was going to be no fight with the hanyou now. She folded up her crossbow, trying to put into words what she wanted to say. "I'm not trying to kill them," her voice was a little weak. "There hasn't been enough food around and I lack the needed hunters."

"Keh," was his reply. To his relief he was glad that she had put up her weapon. She was an excellent shot. and he had already gotten nicked earlier. Still, something was bothering him about her tiredness. He swiftly moved toward her, standing in her bubble space. That was when he spotted the small bandages on her right arm. He had done that. He, however, hadn't moved this close to inspect her injuries. He turned his gaze to her exposed neck.

Kagome's eyes grew wide as her nose literally touched his shirt. The faint sound of someone breathing in, right above her shoulder, told her he was catching her scent. She froze, unsure of what he was trying to get from her. She wasn't marked, but somehow that didn't seem to be the case. Maybe he just wanted to retain her scent so that he could keep track of her. No, he would have picked up her scent in the first encounter. So what the heck was he doing?

"When was the last time you ate?"

The question was asked so softly, that Kagome wasn't quite sure she heard correctly. "Excuse me?"

He pulled back sharply, glaring at her. "I said, when was the last time you ate, bitch?"

Kagome growled. "Why the hell do you care, jerk?!"

"Because you smell sickly."

"Eh?" Kagome lifted a hand to her nose and smelled. A faint sour milk smell wafted from her skin. Her eyes widened in horror. She had never really thought about what she would smell like after not eating for several days. Had the others picked up on it? Probably not since they were all fairly under fed as it was. " Five days, I guess. Maybe more."

"You guess?! Are you really that stupid?"

Kagome glared. "My job is to make my pack safe and healthy. They are my first priority. We have three cubs who need the food far more than I. Besides, I can go a week without food, easily. I've done it before."

Inuyasha snorted his opinion. "I guess play time will have to wait. You are in no condition to fight me."

Kagome growled starting to open her crossbow again. "I did just fine earlier this evening! Care to see if I'm any worse?!"

Inuyasha growled in response. "You were unbelievably weak! You can't expect to fight good when you're under fed!"

"Oh, big deal," she said, rolling her eyes. "It's none of your business whether I eat or not, anyway. You are not part of my clan, White."

"Thank god! I'd probably have starved to death under your command, wench."

"Can you ever stop calling me names, jerk?!"

"Only when you stop, bitch."

"Cockroach!"

"Brat!"

"Bastard."

"Moron."

"Leech!"

"Prima donna!"

"Coward!"

In a flash, Inuyasha had picked up Kagome by the throat. "I am not a coward, bitch!" He squeezed his claws tighter around her throat causing her to gasp for breath. "Is that understood?"

Kagome spit in his face, but was very dismayed that he didn't let go of her. In fact, the grip had only intensified. She was starting to see spots darkening her vision as she struggled to catch her breath. Before she completely blacked out, he dropped her. Kagome gasped for breath. A string of hacking coughs raked her frame as she struggled to get used to air again.

Inuyasha slammed a fist into a nearby tree in anger. He had never tried to kill a girl before. Sure he had thoughts about doing that all the time, especially when the trouble maker twins (Kagura and Kanna) were on a rampage. But he had never actually tried to kill one before. She had just kicked him over the edge. "Damn it!" He slammed his fist again, creating a hole in the tree. Splinters and small wood chips dug into his hand, causing blood to flow. He didn't care, though, as he hit the tree again, toppling it over.

Kagome, no longer struggling for air, watched him with wide eyes. She was still on the ground, where he had so `nicely' dropped her. "What did the tree do to you?"

Inuyasha scowled turning his back to her. "None of your damn business, wench."

Kagome prickled slightly at the comment. "Sure. And trying to kill me, isn't my business either."

"Keh." Inuyasha flopped down on the ground, sitting cross legged. His arms were folded over each other and he glared off into the dark woods, back still to Kagome. His hand was starting to hurt, and he just wanted the girl gone.

Kagome growled. "Hey, Jerk! I'm talking to you!"

Inuyasha pointedly ignored her, shifting his weight more away from her figure.

Kagome launched herself at him, but ended up getting thrown on her back instead. Inuyasha had grabbed her wrist, flipping her over his body, before she ever even reached him. He currently had his face hovering over her, a permanent scowl there. To Kagome, he was upside down, since he had never even moved from his sitting position. Still she continued to glare at him, though more at his chin than his eyes.

"Go home, wench, and take your food."

He said that in a such a monotone that Kagome wasn't sure whether she was in danger of death or being laughed at. She decided it was the former, glancing at the red flecks in his gold eyes. She gulped. Yep, time to go. She inched away from him, still on her back, before she rolled away. She stood up quickly, looking apprehensively at the male, before scurrying off to the large beast. She hefted it up, buckling slightly under the weight, and turned to exit the clearing.

"There will be another one of those here, tomorrow night," came his voice. He still sat in the same position, unmoving except for his lips. His shoulders were slumped forward, and it appeared that he was thinking hard about something or better yet, sulking over the incident.

Kagome nodded slightly before she disappeared into the forest. Inuyasha didn't move from his spot until her footsteps had completely died away, which unfortunately took a good twenty minutes. After that, he stood, plucking the wood pieces out of his hand and cursing colorfully. Two times in one night he had gotten injured by that girl. Well, okay, the second incident had been his fault. Nevertheless, if she kept up with the current course, both of them would end up being pin cushions.

~~ ~~ ~~

Sesshoumaru watched as his half-brother stumbled back into the camp around dawn. The other scouts had returned hours ago, having found no trace of the other clan. Still, he wasn't too surprised, since they had fanned out in directions that were not in the same direction he had seen the two women depart. He also knew that his brother would have found them, since he was muttering choice curses about the female hanyou that had escaped. Still, he would have found the clan in less than an hour, and it wasn't near his time of the month when his nose failed him. So what had taken his idiotic brother so long?

Sesshoumaru sneezed slightly. The smell of blood had drifted past his sensitive nose. The clan had already cleaned up that potent smell long ago. This, therefore, meant that the smell was coming off his brother. Sesshoumaru walked over to his brother, whom was currently moving aside his blankets to sleep. "What took you?"

Inuyasha scowled up at his brother. "None of your damn business!" Inuyasha's eyes widened slightly. Bad move.

Sesshoumaru picked him up by the collar of his shirt. "Care to say that again, hanyou?"

Inuyasha said nothing, deciding it was best not to tick off his brother any more than he already was. The fact that Sesshoumaru did not known about the area having the other wolf clan, had been a terrible blow to his pride. Not to mention the fact that two of their number had escaped his clutches. Inuyasha was finally dropped, unceremoniously, with the older brother still glaring down at him.

"If I have to ask you `what took you so long' again, the consequences will be quite painful for you, brother."

Inuyasha scowled, fixing his white shirt into place. "I had a slight run in with the other clan."

"Must have been more than slight to keep you out all night."

Inuyasha growled. "The encounter didn't even last more than thirty minutes."

"Then why are you so late returning? The only injuries you sustained was to your hand, and it appears that you did that yourself."

"I was thinking!"

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow, but decided not to comment. He wanted information now, and provoking the annoyed hanyou would not help him. "Tell me everything of the encounter, then."

Inuyasha growled. "The clan is a mix. I smelled both brown and black wolves and fox. Their leader is a female black wolf hanyou. The clan is underfed with few competent hunters. The clan is extremely small, only eight, so I guess that doesn't matter. Three of their number are cubs."

Sesshoumaru sighed, processing the information. The `native' clan here was harmless to them. They would most likely hide away in their den than try to get rid of the intruders. The fact that full youkai were following a hanyou, let alone a female, was disturbing to him. Why would they follow such a weak leader?

The black wolf he had encountered was not weak in the least. She could have made a better leader than a female hanyou. "How strong is the hanyou, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha had snuggled under his blankets while Sesshoumaru had been absorbed into his thoughts. Now, he seriously wanted to kill his brother, just so he could get some sleep. "What kind of question is that?"

"You were chasing after her earlier. How strong was she?"

Inuyasha snorted. "Weak. She's too underfed to be strong enough to fight a full youkai."

"And she's underfed, why?"

"She gives the food to her clan instead of herself."

Sesshoumaru fixed his gold eyes on his brother. "Self-sacrificing?"

Inuyasha snorted. "How should I know? I've only met her twice!"

"Twice?"

Inuyasha's eyes widened. He flattened his ears against his head before he ducked down under his animal hide blankets. He clutched the covers in around him making sure that he blocked out the sunlight of the morning, as well as his brother.

Sesshoumaru sighed. There was no point in standing around to wait. That was all the information he would get out of his annoying little brother. He turned and strode off toward the main campfire. He would have to watch his brother closely, now. It wasn't like his brother would betray him, it was the fact that Inuyasha was coming of age.

If he didn't act fast, his hanyou brother would choose his own. That, of course, could not be allowed. The chieftain always paired off potential mates together at the start of the spring season. If a clan member chose before the season without permission, then there would be consequences to pay from the chieftain. If they chose a different mate, after they had already been paired at the spring solstice ceremony, then that mating couple would either be killed or exiled.

There were also more complications when the mates were from two different clans. These happened rarely, considering that the chieftains from both clans had to agree to the match. From there, one of the groups would have to keep the mated pair as their own. A lot of hate stemmed from mixed mates, the worse pairing dealing with humans. Since humans had no chieftain, no rules were applied. The downside, however, was that the clan typically ignored the small pack. If the resulting hanyou cubs were to loose their parents, then they were cast out of the clan.

Sesshoumaru had wanted to do that with his pathetic brother, but couldn't. His brother was a strong individual, even if he was a pathetic half-breed. The fact that the human populous was getting to be increasingly difficult, he needed all the able bodies he could. That was why his, once pure clan, was now riddled with halflings and foreigners. Nonetheless, they obeyed him without question.

Currently, he was facing a serious problem that put the humans at bay for the moment. The solstice was a few weeks away, and he had yet to decide which ones to pair off. Not only that, but as the chieftain he had to pick a mate as well. The choices, however, were poor to his standards. He wanted a strong female to be with, but the ones in this clan were all too weak. They had been pampered most of their lives until the hunts began upon them. Now, they were sniveling bitches.

As a result, he understood why his brother was already seeking out one from the other clan. Of course, his brother was too young to understand what he was doing. Sesshoumaru knew that his brother didn't even understand the ways of the adults, but he had to be taught. If his brother broke the rules, how many others would follow?

No he had to start getting the plans ready for the solstice. He needed to talk to the Elder too. She may have some insights on how to dish out the partners. She may even have some advice on how to deal with his brother. Maybe she could even see if there was something to be done for himself. After all, Kaede supposedly had the great seeing powers of their ancestors. Sesshoumaru shrugged. It was worth a shot. A second opinion might be helpful.

~~ ~~ ~~

Rin sat just outside the cave where cool spritz of water occasionally attacked her as she cleaned her daggers. The sun was finally beginning to shine down into the waterfall valley. Soon, she would need to return to the protection of the cave, but for now she enjoyed her time with nature. Besides, it had been weeks since she had been able to come outside without fear of humans or weakness.

Last night, Kagome had become a hero. She had told them that she had found a place to catch these beasts, so she told them to eat their fill. Of course no one needed to be told that twice. Rin and Sango helped to cook the meat, while Kouga just munched down on raw pieces, much to the others' dislike. Raw meat was all well and good, but cooked meat usually tasted much better. Besides, with Miroku's herbs, you could never go wrong.

Rin smiled at the memory. It had been awhile since they all ate such a meal. She hoped that Kagome would actually be able to retrieve something even larger for tonight. They were all too malnourished to be eating small scraps. She frowned as she thought about that.

Once again, Kagome had taken up the scraps, encouraging everyone to eat. Rin had tried once to get Kagome to eat more, but it had backfired into Kagome giving Shippou and Souta her extras. She had said that they looked far too skinny to not need the food. Rin wasn't the only one that had noticed this behavior. Both Miroku and Sango talked about it when they were hunting last night. That was when they had come to that startling conclusion that none of them had seen Kagome eat anything in seven days.

Rin, therefore, had set out to find Kagome hoping to force feed her. Of course, the white wolf she ran into had deterred that idea in an instant. Rin could still remember the gold eyes that had watched with no emotion. It was like the being had never known how to laugh, cry, or even yell in frustration. It tore at her heart to see someone just plain empty.

Then again, she really would have enjoyed fighting a small battle with the youkai. His youki smell was powerful, and she had no doubt that his skills would be superb. Maybe if she was more skilled in fighting, like Sango or Miroku, she wouldn't have been as nervous as she had. So, maybe it would be best if she watched him fight. Yeah, that would be a better and safer option.

She sighed, sheathing her polished daggers. Maybe she would get to see him again, but under better circumstances. She rolled her eyes. There was no such thing as better circumstances to the territories of clans. Still, she couldn't help but dream, as she turned back into the cave, leaving the daylight.

---------------------------------------------------------------- --------

Updated 1/12/05

Translation notes and Pronunciation:

Oi- (oy) Hey.

Kaede- (kye-deh) Maple Tree.

Youki- (yoh-key) Weird Air; strange aura.