InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tears of the Blade ❯ Fuyu ga owari, soshite kono ha ( Chapter 2 )

 

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original characters of InuYasha because frankly if I did Kouga would get more time center stage. InuYasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and I promise not to scuff him up *too* badly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Two: Fuyu ga owari, soshite kono ha, or Winter is over, this is Spring.

 

 

 

 

A moment's peace was too much to ask apparently. He felt the growl rising in his chest then even though he'd have preferred to have had more control over this reaction. But honestly how was it his fault that he'd reacted this way? Shippou had been annoying the hell out of him all morning as the group trekked over the forest path on the search for a demon that had been bedeviling the local villagers in such a fashion that it had made them think there must be a jewel shard involved, and he had felt that he'd been remarkably patient with the annoying Kitsune. Why he hadn't even struck the kit more than once! For InuYasha this was an unprecedented show of restraint and even Kagome had noticed it, for once she hadn't sat him and she had actually scolded Shippou slightly, telling him to leave InuYasha alone.

 

 

 

That made him happier than anything and a bit smug, his head tilted back just a bit in his effort to look down his nose at the kit. Then of course the breeze washed over the group and ruined that perfect moment. He had had just enough time to think Aw hell no before that jerk had appeared in his signature whirlwind and screeched to a halt in front of his Kagome. It didn't even disturb him for once that his growl out loud was echoed by a growl from Tessaiga that only he seemed to be able to hear. His mind was telling him that there was no way he should allow Kouga the opportunity to even touch his Kagome because even with her fetish for bathing it took literally days for the demon scent of the Wolf Prince to wear off her skin and that lingering odor always put him in a rotten mood until it was gone.

 

 

 

Unfortunately said rotten mood was more often than not taken out on the delicate seeming Miko from the future. Before he could spit out a single curse or growl of rage to make that damn demon back off he noticed that Kouga had stopped of his own accord just shy of actually taking Kagome's hands. The Prince stood there with his body facing hers but his head turned towards InuYasha, a very puzzled expression on his handsome face as he slowly moved to fully face his hanyou rival.

 

 

 

“Do that again.”

 

 

 

What the hell is he going on about? His puzzlement shone clearly, his expression earnest enough that Kouga would know that InuYasha really had no idea just what Kouga wanted him to do again. With an impatient gesture towards him the Yourouzoku explained what he meant, curiosity there in his blue eyes.

 

 

 

“That thing, where you growl with two voices, do that again.”

 

 

 

Both InuYasha's dark brows rose towards his hairline. Kouga had heard Tessaiga growl at him and thought that somehow the hanyou had developed the skill to growl twice in one moment? Tessaiga chose that moment to growl again as Kouga had once more stepped closer to Kagome than either InuYasha or the sword liked. This time it was Kouga's brows that rose up in surprise as he realized that it hadn't been InuYasha growling that second layer of sound at all. Not many demonic weapons were that strong, strong enough to hold a personality of sorts all their own and separate from their wielders. It made Kouga take a moment to think out just how strong that must make the sword InuYasha held and it also explained a few things Kouga had never understood about the powers Tessaiga displayed.

 

 

 

It made total sense now, and Kouga wondered if he should take pity on his rival and explain a few things to him or just let him muddle along like always and hope for the best. Because of course one of the problems with owning a sword that powerful was the tendency for such an item to subsume the will of its owner and take control, a possession of sorts that few ever had the luck or strength to break free of. He reached and took Kagome's hands and gave her his usual speech about hoping she was well and how beautiful she was to him, but even then his mind worked over the problem. Of course just when he had decided out of the goodness of his heart to warn InuYasha he'd had to leap away from his woman to escape an attack by him and that had been enough to change his mind. But because Kagome cared about the hanyou as Kouga left he gave a cryptic sort of warning.

 

 

 

“Good luck with that sword of yours, dog breath!”

 

 

 

InuYasha puzzled over that for days and of course the more he thought about Kouga and his flippant remark the more annoyed he got. He did his best to not take it out on his companions despite how much they tempted him to with their behavior but it all finally came to a head and he wound up in a shouting match with Kagome. It was heated though no more than usual and of course the end result was the same, she stormed off to go home and he was left feeling utterly miserable and desolate. What was worse was that this time he could feel the full censure of his sword and the withdrawal of the sort of thread of support from it that he had been getting. He let her cool off for a day before heading in the direction of the well to either wait for her to return or go after her, he had not decided which just as yet.

 

 

 

The day was beautiful, the breezes warm and soothing and the scent of Spring was in the air. But without Kagome at his side it all seemed rather grey and unwelcome and the longer he stared at the worn wood of the well the worse that feeling of despair grew. He always missed her when she left him for her home in the future but he could never recall feeling this washed out and lonely. He wondered if it might be a combination of the week of tenseness that had followed Kouga's visit and his own underlying worry about having a sword that had a mind of its own concerning Kagome, but he couldn't be sure. Where some might have chosen to wallow in the `unfairness' of it all, InuYasha did not; he tried to think out what was happening to him and came to the conclusion that it was Kagome's fault.

 

 

 

Well, not her fault per se, but her absence made him realize how much he truly needed her at his side and it made him cherish her words to him about always being there even more. Kagome he had realized was both his weakness and his strength. It elated and terrified him in the same breath for she could be used against him by his enemies for both. Yet such was the depth of what he felt that he knew for her sake he would not allow it, that he would be strong for the both of them were something like that to happen. No matter who might take her prisoner he would somehow find the strength and courage to save her and by saving her he would ultimately save them both.

 

 

 

It was really a shame of course that once he realized how he felt that he also realized that he didn't have the words to tell her so. Yet the thought of her and his heart's acceptance of how he felt about her was enough to reawaken that link to Tessaiga and he felt at least a partial approval from that sort of spirit he sensed within it. Perhaps it was a sort of shared feeling that allowed this and that led him back once more to the realization that he was not the only one in love with Kagome. It was that thought that had him brooding when she returned and it allowed him to give her a quiet though gruff apology. After all it wasn't like anyone was watching him do it and it was easy enough to ignore the wash of approval he felt from Tessaiga.

 

 

 

That somewhat easy acceptance was overshadowed by the dream he had later that week. The dream started simply enough, an echo of the day's events though of course the perspective on it was vastly different than what he remembered. They had fought a very large ogre type youkai that had come very close to injuring both Miroku and Kagome during the battle. Yet unlike how InuYasha remembered the events it was not the sweep of the Wind Scar which saved his companions but a large albeit invisible spirit hand that blocked the ogre's attack. In the dream he floated above the battlefield watching as things unfolded and he wondered if this was the view that the spirit that resided in Tessaiga had of all events where he was with the sword. It was a bit of a chilling thought, that perhaps somehow the spirit of his Father was there watching over him as he lived his life.

 

 

 

It should have been heartwarming, not something that chilled him to the bone and made him afraid. A shred of his father's spirit gave Tessaiga its power, it was forged from the living fang of the great Dog General after all and such was its nature. That didn't bother InuYasha upon awakening, it was something he expected. What bothered him was the notion that the dream had planted into his mind, that a being as powerful as his father was purported to be had leant part of his power towards the sword he now held, and that if that spirit were to find a reason that it might want to take him over, might want to live again and imprison his soul within its current home. What would it be like to be trapped in a blade? Would he even know what was going on? Would he be strong enough to retain himself if that were to happen?

 

 

 

The image that had him thinking along those dark paths was the final image of the dream, where it had not been InuYasha who had walked from the fight with his hand resting on Kagome's trusting shoulder. It had not been InuYasha at all, it had been a tall and handsome youkai that seemed to have the best of his features and Sesshoumaru's, long silvery hair pulled up in a top knot to flow around him like a wave of liquid silk that a girl like Kagome would be dying to touch, to run her fingers through. His smile was as devastating as the strong aura that surrounded him, and his command of the very space in which he walked was as evident as the strength of the muscles that worked along his arm as it was not just the hand that rested upon Kagome. Was this a warning? A foreshadowing of what was to come? Did the soul of his father really remain aware within Tessaiga and did it long to escape so that it could have fleshly form again?

 

 

 

It deeply disturbed InuYasha to think that any part of his father was in love with his Kagome. It had been much easier to accept when he had thought of Tessaiga as a powerful spirit infused weapon and not a potential rival, not an extension of perhaps his father's will and personality. It was almost enough for him to fling the sword at Sesshoumaru the next time that he appeared to demand that it be given to him, almost but not enough. This was after all his birthright and there was something within him that told him if he lost Tessaiga that he would end up losing far more than just an heirloom that he had never known he would need so much. This of course was before he was informed just how important the sword was to him, that without it he would be unable to control his demonic blood should it surface, that without it he would lose his very soul and perhaps harm the one person in this world he had come to truly love.

 

 

 

Then of course in the way of such things that protection was shattered when he faced Goshinki and that vile beast spawned of his hated rival Naraku had literally bitten his sword in half. The agonized howls he heard in his mind even as his body was battered to that point where his demonic blood would save him were what drove him so mad, made him so vicious when it came to defeating the smug mind reading demon. Those howls were a mix of both his pain and his father's rage at the shattering of his instrument and had driven the inu-hanyou quite mad, making what he did to Goshinki particularly bloody and horrific. Ironically it had been Kagome who had saved him then, pulling him back from the brink by the shining force of her caring for him. Unfortunately that event had led to others which were progressively more difficult for him to return from and without the tempering nature of his father's spirit held within a completed Tessaiga it was harder for InuYasha to want to retain his soul in the first place.

 

 

 

Isn't that after all what he had wanted, to use the Sacred Jewel to become a full fledged demon like his brother and father? Yet he knew within himself that was a lie and that he had wanted to be a demon as they were, not a demon as he was without the rein on his blood that Tessaiga had provided. Without that check he was not an elegant and powerful youkai, he was a near mindless force of rage and blood thirsty desire to destroy. So he had very willingly sought out Totosai to beg him to repair his sword, at least it was as close to begging as InuYasha would come to. The brief pain of having one of his own fangs removed was nothing compared to the pain the thought of hurting Kagome gave him and so while he bitched about it he was secretly glad.

 

 

 

The bonus of course was that with his own bone introduced into the reforging of his sword that it would become a mix of his own power and his father's, and thus less likely a chance there would be that his father would possess him after all. The idea of it made him smirk until the first time he tried to use Tessaiga in battle only to have it be so very heavy that he could hardly wield it even with his greater strength. He should have known it wouldn't be so easy to subsume the will of his old man at that and it was no surprise really when he was sent on the mission to destroy his father's old enemy Ryoukoutsei. He had to prove to the spirit of his father that he was much stronger and more determined than ever before.

 

 

 

He supposed though that he should not have been hurt when Myouga had sounded so surprised that he had actually succeeded in doing what his father could not, and that Totosai had not told him about the Backlash Wave attack. They had been friends with his father and had nearly worshipped him, so perhaps a small part of them had not wanted to see his son outstrip him in any fashion. Their tepid approval though did more for him than riotous praise, making him want to become even stronger than ever before. Later on he would reflect that those two canny old youkai had known exactly what they were doing, had known that their reluctant praise would simply drive him to work even harder. It had made him suddenly grin, albeit begrudgingly, and he recognized within himself that small boy who had desperately wanted the approval of anyone, especially those who had actually known his father.

 

 

 

Still, when it came down to it, it was taking much longer to sort out other damage that had been done to his emotions and soul over the years. It made him all the more glad that no matter how many times his thoughtless actions hurt Kagome's feelings that her love of him was enough to sustain her and keep her at his side. He would be utterly lost without her now, even if he had still not found a way to unravel what needed to be fixed to make her happy while she stood there.

 

 

AN:

All my story updates are going to be slow going now, and I do apologize deeply for this. I had twins in December of 2007 and they take up most of my free time! I am not abandoning any of the current stories I am posting, I will finish both Tears of the Blade and Knight Errant. Fox in the Fold I am going to wait to post until I have written all five chapters, so I again apologize for those that were waiting to see my take on an adult Shippou. I hope you enjoy chapter two of this five part story and that it isn't as confusing as I have a sneaking suspicion that it might be.

Thank you!