InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Bastard's Gift ❯ Chapter 10

A/N: Inuyasha does not belong to me. I just use the characters for fun and for the entertainment of others. Bastard's Gift Chapter 9

Inuyasha knew he was fidgeting as he sat in the carriage. Several times he reached over to pull back the small curtain and peer out. It was obvious to the wolves that something was not sitting well with their lord hanyou.

"Is something wrong, Lord Inuyasha?" asked Ginta, finally feeling bothered by the paranoid state Inuyasha was working himself into.

"I feel like we're being followed."

Hakkaku and Ginta stuck their heads out of the carriage windows and sniffed the air. They sat back inside, looking disgruntled. "We're going against the wind. We can't smell anything but the trees and small animals we're getting ready to pass."

Inuyasha raised his hand and knocked against the boards behind him. "Can A-un take us into the air now?" he asked loud enough to be heard from outside.

There was a moment of silence before Jaken responded. "I believe so," came the terse reply.

"Have him do it."

Several moments later, the carriage tilted as it began to ascend in the air.

Out on the driver's seat, Kohaku was glancing back.

"I suppose he was sensing it, too," he said.

Jaken silently fretted as he could also feel the tension in the air.

It also annoyed every ounce of him that Inuyasha had felt it strongly enough to order him to take A-um into the air before he made the choice to do it himself.

He didn't want to give the hanyou the wrong impression that he was following the half breed's orders.

Before long, they were high enough in the air that the clouds were below them. The sun cast their shadow on the ground below, but it was small and could easily be mistaken as a bird.

Up ahead, on A-Un's back, Rin was blissfully unaware of the concerns of Jaken and Kohaku. She was happily enjoying the familiar feeling of the dragon's back, spreading her arms out and throwing her head back so that the wind whipped through her hair.

Jaken frowned when he saw how she then turned back to glance at Kohaku with a grin, causing the young man to return a sheepish smile, cheeks slightly flushed with red color. X

Naraku waited until the carriage was in the air before sending some of his more mindless minions after it. He had them tailing the travelers, and waiting for his order to attack. After all, with the exception of Inuyasha and Kohaku, the group of demons would be an almost impossible challenge to the others who were more use to fighting on the ground.

Kohaku could still manage his weapon riding atop of A-un, and Naraku could clearly recall how Inuyasha was able to vault off of the back of the cat demon and the fox brat.

A shame they were no longer around to help out the silver hanyou.

Either way, he figured that the attack would help aid his purpose in gaining the little spawn's trust. He would send a bit of his own aura into the orb at just the right moment to make the little tyke feel the power that was now available to him.

But to avoid being associated with the attack, he did only send one lone samiyoshi to observe.

Naraku casually made his way in the direction of the carriage was flying. It would be foolish to follow completely by air. Who knew what kind of guards or traps Sesshomaru implemented around his territory. He did not want to be caught unawares. X

They had been in the air for a good while. The sun had already passed its mid day mark as it moved westward. The air had cooled down enough to make the interior of the carriage comfortable. Outside, Kohaku had managed to make his way onto the back of A-un to wrap a shawl around Rin's shoulders and hand her some boots to help keep her feet warm.

He stayed there for a bit, wrapping his arms around her.

Jaken continued to frown, hoping that if Sesshomaru came upon them, he wouldn't blame his most loyal retainer for their actions.

Meanwhile, inside the carriage, Katsutoshi had dozed off, leaning against his father's side. Despite the mild agitation that still coursed through Inuyasha, the white hanyou was softly running his fingers through Katsu's hair. He glanced down, observing his son.

Katsu looked like a dark haired cherub when asleep. His long lashes seemed to kiss his rosy cheeks, and his lips relaxed into a small pout. One of his hands had reached up and grasped onto his top.

Inuyasha's free hand reached over to caress that small hand.

He frowned as he thought about what waited him at the end of this particular journey. Sesshomaru had demanded that he "cull the brat" inside him back when he and Kouga had attempted to rescue him. After his one sentenced response to Kouga's official request, he himself had heard almost nothing more of his older brother.

He couldn't help but be concerned with what Sesshomaru would demand of him now. His brother was his last good chance of surviving against Naraku without having to be on the constant run. But if his brother still refused to accept Katsutoshi, then life on the run was the only choice he had.

He tried to clear his head from those depressing thoughts and looked up.

Across from him, Ginta was leaning forward with his head between his legs.

"We'll be on the ground soon," Hakkaku was saying, rubbing his wolf brother on the back.

Inuyasha could only roll his eyes. "You guys need to get out into the air more often."

Ginta looked up, his face taking on green tint.

"It's not our fault we're so use to the ground. Kouga had us running all over the place."

Inuyasha sighed at the distant memory. "I suppose that's true. But then why is Hakkaku doing fine and you're not?"

Hakkaku grinned. "When I was younger we would make a game of jumping on bird demons or leaping off the cliff sides of waterfalls. Ginta was too nervous to follow through. He would rather take naps by the waterfalls."

Ginta looked petulant.

Inuyasha couldn't help but laugh. "Forgive me if I'm having trouble believing that too. The way you guys would jump into each other's arms when things looked too rough."

Now both wolves pouted.

"Hey… the bird demons we tackled were just big enough to support our weight a few feet off ground… and waterfalls won't fight back. We were not prepared for those crazy demons you two seemed to look for all the time!" This time Hakkaku looked like the injured party.

"Keh! We didn't look for them. They seemed to know where we were."

The three adults laughed gently.

Then all three stopped as a foul stench reached their noses. A moment later, Kohaku's voice came through. "Inuyasha!"

Inuyasha leapt up from his seat and looked out the window. In the distance, he could see a cloud of demons heading their way.

"Curses," he muttered, grasping the handle of his sword.

"How are we supposed to fight?" asked the wolves, realizing their disadvantage.

"You don't. Just sit back and let me, Kohaku, and Jaken take care of it."

"But we promised to take care of you!"

Inuyasha ground his teeth in irritation, wondering why he was grateful at having their companionship if they were going to pull this off.

"Yeah, well, Kouga didn't like you guys sticking your neck out for him and neither do I." He saw them opening their mouths to say something. "And I'll cut your tongues off if you bring up the bearer bit!" he growled out.

Both wolves snapped their mouths shut and Inuyasha felt his temper increase. No wonder they were trying to be brave. Despite being male, as a bearer he was still being viewed as a female, needing protection, and it always made him feel degraded; which was kind of ironic since he went from being ignored to being pampered.

He didn't like either extreme. Kouga had made things bearable by treating him the same, forcing the others to allow him to go hunting and sparring with him to keep him in shape.

He appreciated their help when he thought his unborn pup was in danger, and he felt relaxed when they huddled together to sleep, but he would be damned if he ever let himself just stand aside and let others fight for him.

But still, their loyalty to Kouga is what was driving them to be braver than normal and try to protect him, and Inuyasha had to give them credit for that.

"Can you bring us to the ground?" Inuyasha shouted out the window.

"There are a few that are flying under us, but they aren't flying any closer."

"Dammit! So they're forcing us to stay in the air."

Inuyasha couldn't help but believe that Naraku had something to do with this attack. But why wasn't he doing it directly? What could that sneaky bastard be up to?

"Keep it steady for a few," Inuyasha said.

"Lord Inuyasha!"

The silver haired hanyou ignored the two as he hoisted himself out the window.

He paused momentarily as he heard his son call out to him.

"Poppa?"

"Stay there and don't look out. You two, make sure nothing happens to Katsu."

"Poppa?!"

Ginta quickly caught Katsutoshi as the black haired pup launched himself toward the window Inuyasha crawled out of.

Up above, Inuyasha pulled himself to the top and balanced himself on top of the carriage. He pulled out his Tetsusaiga and readied himself for the first barrage of demons that were nearly upon them.

Rin was settling herself in the driver's seat, Kohaku holding her steady after having helped her off of A-un. Jaken had leapt across and landed on the dragon's back, although for one moment, everyone, Jaken included, thought the little green demon was going to slide off the back. He settled himself as well as he could, holding out his staff, also ready for battle.

Glancing back, he could see how Kohaku was beginning to swing his scythe to build up momentum as he stood above Rin on the seat.

Then the demons began to move.

As the horde of demons split into two groups to circle around them, Jaken unleashed his flames as Inuyasha swung his sword and sent the first Wind-Scar flying.

Burnt demons fell down to the ground as a gap was created from the smaller cloud of demons. They quickly regrouped and circled again before attempting a second attack.

Kohaku sent his weapon flying in the air, beheading quite a few demons before pulling on his chain and bringing in his scythe back to him.

Rin did her best to not make any sudden turns, shouting out a warning when she had no choice but to pull up on the reins or snap them when a demon got to close to A-un's side.

The three fighters did their best to keep the demons at bay. X

Katsutoshi could hear his father calling out his sword's attacks often, Kohaku's jangling chains, and the whooshing sound of Jaken's flames. The young demon watched as the two wolves that were supposed to be watching him were so engrossed in looking out the same window his father had exited from that they were no longer paying any attention to him.

He cautiously moved over to the other window and peered out. He could see the circling demons, and it was Kohaku's scythe that was taking care of the ones approaching the carriage from his side.

Then he looked down.

There was a small wave of demons flying underneath them, and he noticed that a couple of snakelike ones were making their way up to them. Glancing up, he could almost see Kohaku. But it was apparent that his attention was on the ones that were visibly attacking.

So the demons from below were gearing up for a sneak attack!

Katsutoshi opened his mouth to shout a warning. Then he paused.

His sire had said that he was giving him power to make him stronger. Would it work in attacking these demons? Glancing back he could see that the two wolves were occupied with shouting out warnings to his father.

Keeping an eye on them, he stretched his tentacles out towards the window and slowly pulled himself up. Seeing that they continued were not aware and would continue being focused on his father, he pulled himself out halfway through and peered downwards.

The two snake demons were much closer.

Stabilizing himself with two of his tentacles, he prepared three more to strike. As soon as the first demon reached the wheels of the carriage, they shot out, piercing the creature in the head and throat, effectively silencing the beast before it had a chance to cry out in pain.

The demon's own weight allowed it to slide off his tentacles and he prepared them for the second attack.

The second demon reared its head and hissed, exposing his fangs with venom dripping from the tips. Katsutoshi immediately wished he had that power.

A sudden pulse from his heart startled him enough that he almost let go of the window. Then it began to burn as it spread about his body from inside, leaving him barely being able to gasp for air. He struggled silently, glancing back at Ginta and Hakkaku. If he made a strange noise, they would turn to look and notice his power.

A pounding sound resonated in his ears and everything he saw began to look fuzzy. But he could feel his tentacles moving, as if they had a life of their own. They shot out even faster and further, quickly wrapping around the creature's head, rendering it defenseless. One had wrapped around its muzzle so that it couldn't make much noise. The other two wrapped around the body of the demon, encasing it like a cocoon. Then they began to pull back, hauling the creature towards him.

Katsutoshi couldn't help but wonder if his own body was going to attempt to absorb this beast. He had never attempted to do anything larger than him, and a small sliver of what he knew as fear settled in his heart. There was no way he would be able to do this. Taking in a creature that size would surely make him completely different; maybe even grow to the size of the beast! Katsutoshi struggled to regain use of his appendages to let go of the writhing demon.

And then he felt a surge of power surge through him.

Do not fear. I will give you the power to do this, he heard the voice of his sire echo in his head. You will take him and all his power in, and you will be able to keep your power a secret from you father.

Narrowing his eyes, his vision suddenly got clear and he could barely feel the creature struggling before him. He hauled it up, relishing in the fear he could now distinguish in its eyes as it resigned itself to its fate. A cavity opened up on his small torso, and a suction of air formed as it pulled the creature in.

Katsutoshi watched in amazement as it was completely absorbed without any major change occurring in his body. Thinking about the fangs, he felt his teeth grow and scrape against his bottom lip. Realizing that his father might notice that difference, he felt them retract back.

Playing around, he was delighted to realize that he could hide and expose them at whim, and knew his sire had kept his promise. His secret would still be safe. He pulled back all his tentacles as he started to pull his head back into the carriage.

"Careful!" he heard Hakkaku holler, as Ginta grabbed him and pulled him away from the window.

Irritation flashed through the little demon, but he reined it in, knowing that they wouldn't understand.

"Try to get us down!" they could hear his father yelling.

"There are too many below!" came Kohaku's voice.

"Wind-Scar!"

Katsutoshi could see the streak of the Wind-Scar blow past the window towards the demon's below. He squirmed out of his caretaker's hands to pull himself up the window and look down.

He watched in awe as his father's attack split the pack of demons, killing those in the direct line of the attack, and sending the surrounding ones scattering.

"Katsu!"

The child didn't struggle as he was lifted once more away from the window. He just smiled softly, having finally gotten a chance to see one of his father's attacks up close. He had only heard about those attacks when the cubs would sit in a story begging for tales about Kouga and Inuyasha.

As awesome as it looked, he didn't want that power. It was his dad's alone, and no one else's. But he would like to have a sword, one cut from his own fangs once he was stronger than his father. He would want to stand there and fight side by side next to his beautiful bearer, and keep him safe while letting him still fight.

Katsutoshi knew his father would not appreciate being treated like some omega. Kouga treated him as an equal which made his father happy, and in turn, Katsu feeling glad.

Without warning, the carriage made a sharp incline.

Katsu felt his feet slide out from under him.

The two wolves had just enough time to wrap Katsutoshi into an embrace to soften the impact as they slammed into the back part of the carriage.

But Katsu didn't care about that. If he had lost his footing with the sharp dip, what about his father? X

Jaken realized he was getting carried away when his flames swept far enough to the side to burn Inuyasha from the heat alone.

"Watch it, toad!" the hanyou shouted at him, arm in front of his face to shield it as much as possible.

Jaken gritted his teeth to avoid apologizing, as Inuyasha's tone was so similar to Lord Sesshomaru for just a couple seconds. He didn't want the hanyou thinking that he was actually learning to fear or respect the halfbreed!

Jaken swung the staff back around, being very careful not to bring it close to A-un head and Kohaku's side. Rin remained quiet as she clenched tightly on the reins and pressed herself back into the seat, worried for all three combatants on the carriage.

A sudden movement from below caught her attention. She shrieked in fright and dismay as she realized she had completely forgotten about the cloud of demons below. Now they were racing their way up towards them and she had no choice but to pull back sharply on the reins to make A-un veer up to avoid a collision.

"Hold on!" she shouted, hoping that the others had enough time to do so. X

Naraku grinned as he felt how the little spawn of his actually let him take control to absorb the creature. If the brat was anything like him when he was first building up his power, the tyke was probably only absorbing what he needed or wanted and spitting out the rest. With Naraku feeding him power from his heart, he would now be able to fully absorb the demons without leaving an obvious trace and making it that much more difficult for Inuyasha to discover his plot until it was too late.

From just above the tree tops, Naraku could see the struggle going on as he manipulated the group of demons in their attacks.

He wondered if he would be able to kill one of the group's members to further dampen their mood.

Or at the very least, severely damage one of them.

With a simple nod, the wave of demon's beneath the carriage shot upwards towards the two headed dragon pulling the carriage. X

Inuyasha swung several more times, alternating between Wind-Scar and the Adamant Barrage. But the damn demons kept regrouping and attacking. He really needed to get to the ground, that way Ginta and Hakkaku stood a chance at fighting as well. And they wouldn't have to be worried about being attacked from below.

Even though he had spotted them when the battle first commenced, he had completely forgotten about them until Kohaku mentioned that they couldn't get down due to the demons.

Inuyasha tried to help by sending a Wind-Scar to scatter the group, but he found himself unable to follow up with another attack as a wave of demons lunged towards him from above.

Jaken's flames shot through again, catching some of the demons, and the heat of the blames burned sharply against his skin.

"Watch it, Toad!" Inuyasha spat out, and the little green demon pulled back his attack.

Inuyasha swung another Adamant Barrage towards the upper group of demons and prepared to swing a Wind-Scar to the group below them.

He had his sword raised when he saw the demons suddenly shift upwards towards A-Un and heard Rin cry out in alarm.

The sudden shift of the carriage as A-Un tried to avoid the demons sent Inuyasha sliding across the top of the carriage. He felt a flash of irritation as Rin's warning came too late. His claws fruitlessly scraped the top of the carriage, unable to catch a good grip before he felt himself leave the top all together.

He could see that Kohaku just managed to latch on, and had tried to move the chain to where Inuyasha could grab it.

But even that was too late.

For one harrowing moment, all Inuyasha felt was the air rushing around him as he could see his son's head peer out the window and hear scream out for him. X

Naraku stepped forward, heart racing as he spotted the white haired figure falling off the carriage. That was not according to plan, and with his original group dead, there be no one to catch the silver haired hanyou.

A wave of impotent fury filled him at the thought of losing his chance to torment Inuyasha any further. What was the point of harassing his offspring if the white hanyou wasn't around to feel the despair?

He really couldn't take the chance to move and save him. It would defeat the purpose of remaining in the shadows.

Or maybe he should take the chance. The hanyou was helpless during the freefall and it would be easy to incapacitate the hanyou and take him prisoner again.

Naraku prepared to move. X

Inuyasha looked downwards and could see how quickly the ground was rushing up towards him.

His first thoughts were not of himself, but of Kouga's cub inside of him.

It wasn't fair. He had just gotten a second opportunity and it was going to be in vain.

He closed his eyes and hoped that at least the others would have the foresight not to bring Katsutoshi down to see his father's mangled body.

A familiar scent reached his nose and his eyes snapped open in shock as he felt a pair of strong arms catch him from below and pull him back to a firm body.

Instinctively, he reached up and grasped onto the silky material of his rescuer's clothing, as if trying to help stop his own fall.

The scent of the person completely filled his nose, and his head snapped up, eyes wide, to stare at the being in the face.

"Foolish hanyou," said a cold voice. "You have no business fighting if you really are carrying Kouga's cub."

Inuyasha was too stunned to respond as he stared into the cold amber eyes of his older brother.

To Be Continued.

A/N2: Sorry for a long delay in updates and a chapter that's shorter than previous - I think. Been working on a comic that can be found on smackjeeves.com called Entangled Fates. It's got all sorts of pairings, main one is slash(yaoi) and different species (humans and anthros) as it's a sci-fi type of story. For those that have read my stories, it actually features my evolved characters from my Gargoyles fic, Never Meant to Be. No longer human, but different alien humanoid races. Christina, Gary, Roberto, and Jack (Kristalia, Gari, Roberto, and Jax in the comic - Roberto's last name changed) have already been introduced. There are at least once a week updates with the comic… but I've been trying to get ahead which kills my time for story writing. Send me a message if you want the actual link to the comic but be warned… I rarely log in so it might be a couple weeks or more before I read them and respond.