InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Coyote Child ❯ Chapter Nine ( Chapter 9 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: terri botta 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.07.2007 | Pages: 8 | Words: 6.0K | Visits: 10.6K | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.07.2007 | Pages: 8 | Words: 6.0K | Visits: 10.6K | Status: Work In Progress
The Coyote Child
By Terri Botta
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Sole copyright belongs to Viz and Rumiko Takashi. I'm poor so don't
sue.
Rating: R for later chapters.
Pairing: Inuyasha/Kagome
Summary: Inuyasha and Kagome are asked to adopt a coyote-hanyou baby from Arizona.
Email feedback to: isilwath@comcast.net
*********
Chapter 9
Kagome prayed. She prayed that the Jeep's axels didn't break on the rough
ground they were speeding over. She prayed that they didn't run out of gas on the way
back. She prayed that, by some miracle, the Terror Bats would turn in the other direction.
For a moment, it looked like her prayers were answered when the swarm appeared
to be heading south, but then her heart sank when a small group of about two dozen bats
veered off from the main swarm and headed east. She heard Inuyasha growl and felt him
apply more pressure to the gas pedal as the Jeep sped up even more.
`They've scented him, they've scented Yukio...'
She prayed that her son could hold the bats off until she and Inuyasha could get
there.
Suddenly Inuyasha gasped and growled even louder.
"What is it?" she asked, dreading his answer.
"Something's wrong. Yukio's drawn his sword."
She drew her own sharp breath. Inuyasha always knew when one of his sons'
swords was drawn because they were made from his own fangs.
"But... the bats couldn't have gotten that far ahead of us..." she argued, flicking
her eyes back to the black spots against the darkening sky.
"I dunno. I just know he's drawn it. Here, you drive."
It was something they had done before: switched drivers without stopping the
vehicle. It was reckless and dangerous, but they could do it smoothly when the need
arose.
"Un," she agreed and moved to slip into the back seat.
"What are you doing?" Michael asked, alarmed, as she joined him on the rear
bench.
"Don't worry, we've never crashed while doing this," she said as she leaned over
the driver's seat and took the wheel.
While she steered, Inuyasha put the Jeep on cruise control and moved over into
the passenger seat. Then he took the wheel as she moved from the rear seat into the
driver's seat. She was no sooner in control of the vehicle when Inuyasha rolled down the
window and pulled himself out.
"I'm going onto the roof. Don't lose those bastards, Kagome," her mate ordered
as she watched his bare feet slip out.
There was a loud thud and the top of the Jeep groaned under the added weight.
She eased up on the gas a little bit when she heard the scraping of Inuyasha's feet.
`There goes the paint...'
"Faster, Kagome! Faster!"
Stepping on the gas, she prayed they'd all arrive in one piece.
********
The human side of him recoiled at the arrival of the Terror Bats even as his
demon side rejoiced. Here were enemies he could fight. Here were things he could kill,
and his bloodlust rose to gorge in his throat and came out as a defiant howl. Emma
screamed as he swung Kenshuga, letting it surge with its full power. The blast blew right
into the diving swarm and took out five of them.
Unfortunately there were a lot more than five in the swarm, and the remaining
bats lashed out at him and the helpless, terror-frozen humans with their talons. He heard
at least two impacts and their accompanying screams, and the stench of spilled blood
assaulted his nose. Frantically, he looked for Emma and found her behind him, still
guarding her cousin and still holding the rifle. She looked horrified and brave all at the
same time.
"Stay behind me!" he ordered, but did not wait for her agreement.
A sweep of the area showed that two of the mob were down, bleeding from
wounds made by the Terror Bats' claws. It appeared that his attack hadn't stopped them
from diving, but it had stopped them from carrying anyone off. The reprieve was short-
lived, however, because he could see them circling overhead. He snarled and swung
Kenshuga.
"Die!" he roared and hit them again.
Four more fell, and the shrieks of their brethren were almost deafening, but they
couldn't drown out the howls of the pup that were now coming from inside the hogan. He
gritted his teeth and swung again. He never could ignore the sound of a distressed child,
and the pup's wails galvanized his battle lust to a sharp, hot edge. It was dangerous. He
was furious, and losing himself to his demon side was a very real possibility.
There was a freedom in letting go, in allowing his demon blood to take over. With
it came a heady rush of power, an intoxicating euphoria that only existed when he
dropped the patina of humanity and let his demon side rip. He didn't have the shame and
horrifying memories that his father did of what could happen when the demon took
complete control. His father had slaughtered humans in his bloodlust, and Inuyasha had
carried the guilt ever since. He carried no such guilt. His demon blood had never been
freed out of his ability to master it. His sword had never been broken.
His demon was invincible, undefeated and unashamed. When faced with a worthy
opponent, it rose to the fore, fangs gnashing, claws curled and ready for battle. Snarling,
growling, he attacked his enemies with a ruthless abandon that he hadn't felt in years. All
of his pent up frustration and confusion came roaring out in a great surge of force that he
threw into the swing of his sword and used to blast the bastard bats right out of the sky.
The problem with fighting with a sword like Kenshuga was its limited scope.
Once an enemy figured out the blade's power and range, it was easy to avoid the surge,
especially if the attack came from the sky. The bats were adept at aerial maneuvers, and
soon he was missing more than he was scoring strikes. Kenshuga didn't have a broad
reaching attack like Kongousouha so it was soon apparent that he was at a disadvantage.
Knowing that he could have a problem tempered his battle rage and brought him
back down from the head rush. He looked around during a brief pause in the fighting as
the bats regrouped and assessed the damage. He'd killed ten of them, but there were still
at least a dozen left, and they were easily avoiding his strikes. Plus he had no doubt that
they were calling their buddies to the battle because only scout groups of Terror Bats
were this small. He had no idea how many of them there really were, but he had a sinking
feeling that there were going to be too many of them for him to handle.
`This was the youki we were feeling. This is the evil that has been plaguing these
people and their land,' he realized.
When he thought about it, it made sense, although he couldn't imagine what could
bring a swarm of Terror Bats so far away from their natural habitat.
`Uncle is not going to be pleased.'
Then he gasped when he remembered that his parents had headed west when they
had left the hogan, and the bats had come from the west.
`No. Oh no. Okaa-san and Otou-san... What if they encountered the bats before
they got here? No, I'd know it. I'd feel it. Kenshuga would know if Tessaiga was brought
into play. It would tell me. But what if this is what that silver coyote had come to tell us
about? What if this is why Temeh hasn't come back for Sara and her pup?' He didn't like
the idea at all, and he set his jaw as the bats began another dive. `Okaa-san, Otou-san,
please be safe! I'll find you just as soon as I finish killing these bastards!'
"Eat this!!"
Kenshuga surged, but as the blast left the blade he heard a new sound behind him:
the shick, shick of a rifle barrel being engaged, then the deafening crack of the gun being
fired just over his head. That in and of itself was a surprise. The fact that the bullets were
glowing with purifying energy was the real shocker.
He watched, stunned, as both shots fired hit their marks, and two of the bats
shrieked as the holy light obliterated them. He whirled to stare at Emma who was still
holding the smoking rifle and looking just as surprised as he was.
`Oh shit, she's a miko!'
A miko who had just come into her power the same way his own mother had
come into hers: in the midst of life-threatening battle. A miko who was now looking at
him as if she had never seen him before.
`Shit. The concealment spell doesn't work on her anymore!'
********
Emma was terrified. She couldn't remember a time when she had felt such horror
and fear. From the moment she had come out of the hogan to find her cousin down on the
ground with blood on his forehead, Yukio holding a very big sword, and a mob of angry
Navajos threatening the home, she had been more angry than frightened. Then all that
had changed when these things had come diving out of the sky. They looked like bats,
but not like any bats she had ever seen. They were huge and had blazing red eyes, and
they shrieked as they came down, mouths full of deadly teeth.
`Dear God what are those things?!'
Yukio roared and white lightning came out of his sword, killing five of the big
bats with one strike.
`Oh my God. How can a sword do that?'
Unfortunately, the bats had hit two of the mob and both were wounded. She was
trying to wrap her head around what was happening when Yukio turned to her and
ordered her to stay behind him. Then he attacked again and killed four more.
`Oh good,' she thought with some relief. `He can kill them...'
But her relief was short-lived, however, when she saw that the bats were able to
evade the lighting coming from Yukio's blade. She could see him getting frustrated as his
swings became more forceful and heated, but he still kept missing, and each time the bats
got closer and closer to them.
`It's only a matter of time before those things get one of us! I have to do
something to help him.'
She looked down at the rifle she was holding. She knew it was loaded and there
was a box of bullets on the ground at her feet. It was a general purpose hunting rifle; not
unlike the ones her family had been hunting with for decades. Theoretically she could
load and shoot it without too much difficulty, and she was a fair shot.
`I might not be able to hit too many of them, but I might be able to draw them in
closer so Yukio can get them with his sword...'
She lifted the rifle, aimed and fired, then quickly reloaded and fired off a second
shot. She felt something odd as she pulled the trigger; an energy that flowed out of her
hands, but she chalked it up to nerves. She'd never been this close to death before, and
she knew that she needed to give herself a little slack if she was feeling out of sorts.
Her first hint that what she was feeling might not be nerves was when she noticed
that the bullets were glowing with bright white light. She watched them flying towards
the two bats she had targeted and both hit home. The bats screamed upon impact and
were quickly consumed by the light, shrieking as they disappeared.
`What
the
Hell...'
S he looked down at the rifle, then back up at Yukio and gasped. The veneer of the
handsome Asian man was gone, and she knew she was seeing him in his true form. His
hair was silver white, his eyes a vivid gold, and his ears were canine ears that sat on the
top of his head. He must have realized that she could see through his spell because he
stared at her just as she was staring at him. She stammered, her jaw working, but her
mouth refused to make any sounds. He snarled, pulling back his upper lip to reveal two
sharp fangs, and craned his head up to the remaining ten bats.
"What are you waiting for?! A written invitation?" he yelled. "Reload and shoot!"
She was still stammering when he spun on one foot and swung his sword again.
To her horror, he missed the diving bats and two of them swept into the mob. She heard
twin sickening thuds, and their accompanying screams, as the bats snared two men in
their talons. When the creatures lifted off she saw that each had a victim, one of whom
was no more than a boy.
"No!" she cried, and grabbed for the box of bullets.
Thankfully Yukio was already moving, and she saw him make an incredible leap
upward to grab the bat that had captured the boy. She brought up the rifle and aimed at
the bats nearest to her. She didn't dare shoot the bat that carried the man because she
feared it would then drop its prey, letting the man fall to his death. Instead she aimed for
the bats surrounding him, letting her inner voice tell her when to pull the trigger. Each
time she fired, the bullets glowed and they hit their marks with an accuracy she had never
been able to master before.
She let off half a dozen shots, and felled six of the horrible things, then took a
moment to catch her breath and locate Yukio. Above her, she could barely see the two
bats she was looking for: one who carried a man whom she now was fairly certain was
dead, and the other who carried a kicking boy in its talons and a silver-haired dog demon
on its back. Yukio's hair gleamed in the moonlight, and she could see him struggling
with the creature as it tried to get more distance between it and the ground.
Next to her David moaned, and she knew that he was regaining consciousness.
She didn't know how badly he'd been hurt, but she could see a nasty gash on his temple.
She wanted to help him, or at least get him into the hogan, but she didn't dare leave the
battle. Yukio was depending upon her to help bring down the remaining bat things, and
she didn't have time to play nursemaid to her cousin.
"Are you okay?" she asked him, sparing a glance down as she reloaded the rifle.
"What's going on?" David asked, his voice unsteady.
"You don't want to know. Just stay down and do something about that gash on
your head; you're bleeding a lot, and blood scent is not what we need right now."
She aimed and fired, taking out one of the remaining five.
"What the hell..." David slurred.
She reloaded and fired again. Three to go. "I told you, you don't want to know."
She set her site on the remaining unburdened monster and put pressure on the
trigger. Her shot was interrupted, however, by the arrival of a whole host of new bats
coming to join the fight.
`Oh my god, there's more of them!'
At the same time the bats appeared, she heard a terrible scream and looked up just
in time to see Yukio, and the boy the bat had been carrying, falling from the sky. She
watched in horror, and in awe, as Yukio grabbed the screaming boy in freefall and
deliberately placed himself underneath the child so that he would hit the ground first.
There was no such luck for the other Navajo the bats had grabbed, and he fell to earth as
well. But there was no sound coming from him, confirming her suspicion that the man
was almost certainly already dead.
All three landed within moments of each other, but she couldn't see them beyond
the cowering mob and the cloud of dust kicked up by the impact. She waited, straining,
hoping beyond hope that at least one of them had survived. If Yukio had been injured,
she didn't know what she was going to do. The number of enemies against them had just
significantly multiplied, and there was no one left that could help her fight. The mob, she
was sure, was all but useless, and she had the only rifle that had been in the hogan.
Unless Inuyasha and Kagome returned very soon, she feared that they would be
overwhelmed.
She reloaded the rifle, intending to buy them as much time as possible (or at least
go down fighting) and fired into the swarm, sending off as many rounds as she could as
quickly as possible. She had taken out four of them when she heard a tremendous roar
from behind the mob. She had no words to describe her joy, and relief, as she watched
Yukio leap into the air, sword swinging in a wide arc and letting out a blast of power that
ripped through the bats.
"Yukio!" she cried, and followed up his attack with another volley of bullets.
He landed, barefoot and bloodied, a few paces from her, and the ground cracked
from the impact. There was a feral gleam in his eyes as he snarled and swung the sword
again.
"Die!!" he yelled as more bats met their fate.
He turned to her on the backswing, eyes focusing for a moment upon her and the
rifle. "Are you alright?"
"Yes."
He nodded and launched another attack.
"How is the boy? Did he live?" she asked desperately.
"Some broken bones and scared to death, but he'll be fine if we can get him
medical attention. Not much I could do for the other one though, his neck was broken
before he fell."
"Can we beat them, you and I?"
He looked at her, and his eyes said everything she did not want to hear. "Fire your
purifying bullets, miko, and pray my parents get back soon."
He had no more words for her as he threw himself back into the battle, putting
himself between the bats and the terrified mob. Some of the Navajos were coming out of
their fear and aiming at the bats with their own rifles, but she doubted that they would be
able to do much good. She reloaded and fired again.
********
They were almost back. They were almost out of gas. Inuyasha's feet had
pounded two large dents in the roof of the Jeep. She was going as fast as she dared on the
dirt roads after dark, and she prayed it would be fast enough. After they had seen such a
small group of the Terror Bats break off to fly towards the hogan while the rest of the
swarm headed south, they had relaxed a little because they knew that Yukio was more
than capable of handling a couple of dozen Terror Bats on his own. But the sense of
urgency returned tenfold when a second group of the bats, this one comprising at least
another thirty individuals, came streaking out of the south.
"Oi! Kagome! Hurry it up!" her mate ordered, his voice angry and harsh.
"I'm going as fast as I can!"
She couldn't blame him for wanting her to go faster. She was feeling the urgency
herself, but it wouldn't help their son any if they wrecked the Jeep on the way back.
Michael was being accommodatingly quiet, although she thought that had little to do with
manners as it did with his own anger and fear. She realized that, until he'd seen the
Terror Bats for himself, he'd really had no idea what it was they were up against; but now
that he'd witnessed them firsthand, the reality of the situation was really hitting home.
She could see him in the rearview mirror. His face was drawn and his jaw was
tight with clenched teeth. No doubt Inuyasha wore the same expression somewhere above
her on the roof of the Jeep. Her own hands were wrapped tightly around the steering
wheel, gripping it as hard as she could. Yukio was out there, and he was fighting the
terror bats on his own, of that she was certain, although why he had drawn Kenshuga
before the bats had even gotten to him, she could only guess.
`Was there another cave of them? Or a different threat that he felt he needed to
use his sword?'
They didn't know, and they wouldn't know until they got back to the hogan.
There was a loud thud as she ran over a rock and she heard Inuyasha curse.
"Oi! Watch it, Kagome!"
"I'm sorry! You know this ground is uneven!"
"Be careful, we're approaching an arroyo," Michael warned shakily. "If you don't
look out, you'll drive right into it."
"Okay," she answered, and concentrated on trying to see what little she could of
the road ahead.
They avoided the arroyo, but not by much, and she sent the Jeep careening around
a sharp bend. The moment they cleared the turn the hogan came blessedly into view, and
she could see the new swarm of bats join the rest. Her heart caught in her throat as she
watched her eldest son throw himself into the battle, sword swinging, hair flying behind
him. She slammed her foot down on the gas pedal, forcing the Jeep as fast as it would go.
"Kongousouha!" she heard Inuyasha yell as he sent forth a blast of diamond
spears from his blade.
The attack flew right into the middle of the swarm, piercing bodies and delicate
wing membranes. She saw three fall. Then there was a loud bang, and she saw a flash of
purifying energy hit one of the bats.
`Purifying energy?' she thought, confused, even as she was making the Jeep skid
to a halt in front of the hogan.
Inuyasha was off the roof and swinging Tessaiga before she had a chance to turn
off the engine.
"Kongousouha!" her mate shouted again and another diamond spear blast
exploded through the swarm.
She practically threw herself out of the Jeep and ran for the rear compartment
where she kept her bow. Behind her she heard the sound of another gunshot and felt the
purifying force.
`There has to be another miko here...'
She grabbed her bow and quiver of arrows and ran to join the fray. She found
herself in the middle of a warzone. There was a group of strange Navajos, many armed
with rifles, shooting ordinary bullets up into the circling swarm. Bodies of felled bats
littered the ground, some of them in multiple pieces, but so far she didn't see any human
remains. Looking at the hogan, she saw David slumped against the wall. Emma was
standing beside him, a rifle in her hands. Then she saw the Cree woman fire a purifying
bullet from the gun and knew she had found her miko.
"Emma!" she cried, rushing over to the young woman.
"Kagome," Emma replied, looking frightened but relieved.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, but David is hurt."
She looked down and saw a minor wound on the man's temple.
"I'm okay," he insisted, but his glazed eyes said otherwise.
`Hmm, concussion maybe,' she thought. `But not a serious one.'
"What are these things, Kagome?" Emma asked, firing another purifying bullet.
Like her own arrows, Emma's bullets did not miss their target, and another bat
fell.
"They're Terror Bats," she explained over the chaos of battle.
"How many more of them are there?"
"I don't know. Most of the swarm was headed south!"
"Okaa-san!" Yukio yelled as he landed next to her. His hair and eyes were wild,
and his clothes were splattered with blood.
"Yukio!"
"Now that Otou-san is here, we have the battle, but there are wounded... a boy
especially..." her son told her, waving a hand in the direction of a nearby bluff.
"I'll see what I can do!" she answered, already moving.
Scrambling over the hard ground, she found the boy and assessed his condition.
He had a broken leg, a broken arm, and several contusions. She hated to move him, but
she had to get him out of the danger zone. She was frantically trying to figure out a way
to get him into the hogan without doing him more damage when someone landed on his
knees next to her.
"My God what is happening here?" Michael gasped, his eyes wide with shock.
"It's okay. Inuyasha and Yukio can handle them." `As long as the rest of the
swarm doesn't decide to come.' "Here! Help me! We need to get the wounded into the
hogan."
Michael nodded and began issuing directions in Dineh, urging the men to get into
the safety of the hogan, then he helped her carry the boy. She called out to David as they
passed, telling him to get up and come inside. She was relieved when she saw him
struggle to his feet and follow.
"Emma!" she called.
The Cree woman shook her head as she reloaded her rifle. "I'm staying out here. I
can help!"
Part of what was left of a bat fell near her feet, and she decided not to argue.
Michael opened the hogan door and all of them spilled in, much to Ruth and Sara's
concern.
"What is going on?" Sara demanded, clutching her crying son close to her chest.
"It sounds like a horrible monster is out there!"
"Monsters," her brother corrected. "Monsters."
"This boy is badly hurt. I can treat him as best I can, but we'll need to get him to a
hospital as soon as possible," she explained as they laid the barely conscious boy on the
hogan floor. "Sara is there a first aid kit here in the hogan?"
"Yes! It's on the shelves against the east wall."
Good. That meant she didn't have to go out to the Jeep to get her bag. At least not
right away. She could concentrate on putting a barrier up so that the bats couldn't get in.
"I'm going to cast a shield spell to keep the bats out," she told Michael. "It'll
protect everyone in here."
"You can do something like that?" he asked.
"When you have hanyou babies that everyone wants to kill, you learn how to cast
shields pretty quickly. Watch the boy. This won't take me long."
She saw him nod and nodded back. Breathing deep, she pulled her power to her
and built the barrier, defining it and giving it form. Then she cast it outwards, and it
expanded like a giant bubble until it encompassed the entire hogan. She did it so easily
that it amazed even her. There had been a time when barriers had been difficult for her,
but time and practice had made her an expert. Now only a select handful of individuals
could best her shields, Midorikyou being one of them. But then the immortal miko had
taught her everything she knew.
Barrier in place, she breathed a sigh of relief and moved to tend to the wounded.
Ruth had risen to her feet and she was glad to see the old woman already moving to boil
water and gather triage supplies. Sara, on the other hand, was staring at the bedraggled
crowd in the hogan with anger and shock.
"Tommy Begay! Bobby! Les!" the girl cried, obviously recognizing some of the
men in the six or so who had come running into the hogan. The remaining Navajos had
opted to stay outside, probably to keep fighting.
She didn't know why there had been a group of armed Navajos outside the hogan
when the bats had attacked but she could take a few guesses. Her suspicions were
confirmed when she saw one of them look hatefully at the baby in Sara's arms.
"The Skinwalker had to be destroyed," one of them explained sullenly.
"You were going to kill me and my baby!" the teenager accused.
"Not you! Just the witch child!" another argued.
From the corner of her eye, as she attempted to determine how bad the boy's
bones were broken, she saw Sara turn Peter towards the men. She knew that the
concealment necklace was still on the baby so he now looked completely human.
"Does
this look like a Skinwalker to you?" Sara seethed.
The men gasped. "Vincent told us he was half animal! Half Coyote!" one insisted.
"My father is a drunk. How can you believe anything he says?"
"If it is not a Skinwalker why did it send its giant flying death bats to kill us?!"
another demanded.
"Those weren't sent by the Skinwalker!" Michael interrupted. "They were sent by
greedy Whites looking to steal our uranium."
"Our uranium?"
"Yes. We found their lair. They've been here for months, killing livestock and
even some people. The cave was littered with bones. They're from Asia. They didn't get
here by accident," she told them, adding weight to Michael's words.
On the floor, the boy moaned in pain and she had to focus her attention on him.
Ruth came to join her and the next several minutes were taken up with treating the
wounded. The boy's injuries were the worst, thankfully. Everyone else suffered some
minor scrapes and bruises, although one man had been gouged with talons but his leather
vest had protected him from most of it.
As she worked, she could hear and feel the battle raging outside, and she prayed
that the rest of the swarm continued on its way south to wherever it was going. If it
decided to turn back north...
She cursed under her breath.
"What I wouldn't give for a working cell phone!" she complained to no one.
"My phone works," she heard David reply.
"It does?" she asked, turning her head to look at him in shock.
"Yeah. I have satellite service. It's the only service that works out here."
If she had a cell phone she could call Sesshoumaru...
"May I use it, please?"
Wincing, one hand to his bruised head, he reached down into his bag and pulled
out a flip phone.
"Sure. Here it is."
"Arigato!" she cried happily as she grabbed the phone from his hand, her fingers
already dialing the familiar number.
"Yes?" her brother-in-law's voice said tersely, and she'd never heard a more
welcome sound in all her life.
"Sesshoumaru! Something terrible is happening!" she said and quickly explained
the situation.
A furious growl came over the line, then the taiyoukai's cold voice answered, "It
shall be dealt with immediately."
The tone of his voice made her shiver, and she thanked the gods he was on her
side.
"Thank you Sesshoumaru-sama."
"Do you need assistance there?"
She thought of how Inuyasha would feel if agents from his brother showed up to
join the fray and gulped.
"No. Inuyasha and Yukio are alright. It's the rest of the swarm that needs to be
taken care of."
"Understood."
The line went dead and she knew he had hung up. She was too relieved to be
irritated by his rudeness. Sesshoumaru was always that way, and there was no sense in
getting angry about it now. Besides, she now didn't have to worry about the rest of the
swarm.
She shuddered, remembering the controlled fury in Sesshoumaru's voice.
She prayed for the poor, hapless bats about to face the full anger of the Lord of
the West. They didn't have a chance.
By Terri Botta
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Sole copyright belongs to Viz and Rumiko Takashi. I'm poor so don't
sue.
Rating: R for later chapters.
Pairing: Inuyasha/Kagome
Summary: Inuyasha and Kagome are asked to adopt a coyote-hanyou baby from Arizona.
Email feedback to: isilwath@comcast.net
*********
Chapter 9
Kagome prayed. She prayed that the Jeep's axels didn't break on the rough
ground they were speeding over. She prayed that they didn't run out of gas on the way
back. She prayed that, by some miracle, the Terror Bats would turn in the other direction.
For a moment, it looked like her prayers were answered when the swarm appeared
to be heading south, but then her heart sank when a small group of about two dozen bats
veered off from the main swarm and headed east. She heard Inuyasha growl and felt him
apply more pressure to the gas pedal as the Jeep sped up even more.
`They've scented him, they've scented Yukio...'
She prayed that her son could hold the bats off until she and Inuyasha could get
there.
Suddenly Inuyasha gasped and growled even louder.
"What is it?" she asked, dreading his answer.
"Something's wrong. Yukio's drawn his sword."
She drew her own sharp breath. Inuyasha always knew when one of his sons'
swords was drawn because they were made from his own fangs.
"But... the bats couldn't have gotten that far ahead of us..." she argued, flicking
her eyes back to the black spots against the darkening sky.
"I dunno. I just know he's drawn it. Here, you drive."
It was something they had done before: switched drivers without stopping the
vehicle. It was reckless and dangerous, but they could do it smoothly when the need
arose.
"Un," she agreed and moved to slip into the back seat.
"What are you doing?" Michael asked, alarmed, as she joined him on the rear
bench.
"Don't worry, we've never crashed while doing this," she said as she leaned over
the driver's seat and took the wheel.
While she steered, Inuyasha put the Jeep on cruise control and moved over into
the passenger seat. Then he took the wheel as she moved from the rear seat into the
driver's seat. She was no sooner in control of the vehicle when Inuyasha rolled down the
window and pulled himself out.
"I'm going onto the roof. Don't lose those bastards, Kagome," her mate ordered
as she watched his bare feet slip out.
There was a loud thud and the top of the Jeep groaned under the added weight.
She eased up on the gas a little bit when she heard the scraping of Inuyasha's feet.
`There goes the paint...'
"Faster, Kagome! Faster!"
Stepping on the gas, she prayed they'd all arrive in one piece.
********
The human side of him recoiled at the arrival of the Terror Bats even as his
demon side rejoiced. Here were enemies he could fight. Here were things he could kill,
and his bloodlust rose to gorge in his throat and came out as a defiant howl. Emma
screamed as he swung Kenshuga, letting it surge with its full power. The blast blew right
into the diving swarm and took out five of them.
Unfortunately there were a lot more than five in the swarm, and the remaining
bats lashed out at him and the helpless, terror-frozen humans with their talons. He heard
at least two impacts and their accompanying screams, and the stench of spilled blood
assaulted his nose. Frantically, he looked for Emma and found her behind him, still
guarding her cousin and still holding the rifle. She looked horrified and brave all at the
same time.
"Stay behind me!" he ordered, but did not wait for her agreement.
A sweep of the area showed that two of the mob were down, bleeding from
wounds made by the Terror Bats' claws. It appeared that his attack hadn't stopped them
from diving, but it had stopped them from carrying anyone off. The reprieve was short-
lived, however, because he could see them circling overhead. He snarled and swung
Kenshuga.
"Die!" he roared and hit them again.
Four more fell, and the shrieks of their brethren were almost deafening, but they
couldn't drown out the howls of the pup that were now coming from inside the hogan. He
gritted his teeth and swung again. He never could ignore the sound of a distressed child,
and the pup's wails galvanized his battle lust to a sharp, hot edge. It was dangerous. He
was furious, and losing himself to his demon side was a very real possibility.
There was a freedom in letting go, in allowing his demon blood to take over. With
it came a heady rush of power, an intoxicating euphoria that only existed when he
dropped the patina of humanity and let his demon side rip. He didn't have the shame and
horrifying memories that his father did of what could happen when the demon took
complete control. His father had slaughtered humans in his bloodlust, and Inuyasha had
carried the guilt ever since. He carried no such guilt. His demon blood had never been
freed out of his ability to master it. His sword had never been broken.
His demon was invincible, undefeated and unashamed. When faced with a worthy
opponent, it rose to the fore, fangs gnashing, claws curled and ready for battle. Snarling,
growling, he attacked his enemies with a ruthless abandon that he hadn't felt in years. All
of his pent up frustration and confusion came roaring out in a great surge of force that he
threw into the swing of his sword and used to blast the bastard bats right out of the sky.
The problem with fighting with a sword like Kenshuga was its limited scope.
Once an enemy figured out the blade's power and range, it was easy to avoid the surge,
especially if the attack came from the sky. The bats were adept at aerial maneuvers, and
soon he was missing more than he was scoring strikes. Kenshuga didn't have a broad
reaching attack like Kongousouha so it was soon apparent that he was at a disadvantage.
Knowing that he could have a problem tempered his battle rage and brought him
back down from the head rush. He looked around during a brief pause in the fighting as
the bats regrouped and assessed the damage. He'd killed ten of them, but there were still
at least a dozen left, and they were easily avoiding his strikes. Plus he had no doubt that
they were calling their buddies to the battle because only scout groups of Terror Bats
were this small. He had no idea how many of them there really were, but he had a sinking
feeling that there were going to be too many of them for him to handle.
`This was the youki we were feeling. This is the evil that has been plaguing these
people and their land,' he realized.
When he thought about it, it made sense, although he couldn't imagine what could
bring a swarm of Terror Bats so far away from their natural habitat.
`Uncle is not going to be pleased.'
Then he gasped when he remembered that his parents had headed west when they
had left the hogan, and the bats had come from the west.
`No. Oh no. Okaa-san and Otou-san... What if they encountered the bats before
they got here? No, I'd know it. I'd feel it. Kenshuga would know if Tessaiga was brought
into play. It would tell me. But what if this is what that silver coyote had come to tell us
about? What if this is why Temeh hasn't come back for Sara and her pup?' He didn't like
the idea at all, and he set his jaw as the bats began another dive. `Okaa-san, Otou-san,
please be safe! I'll find you just as soon as I finish killing these bastards!'
"Eat this!!"
Kenshuga surged, but as the blast left the blade he heard a new sound behind him:
the shick, shick of a rifle barrel being engaged, then the deafening crack of the gun being
fired just over his head. That in and of itself was a surprise. The fact that the bullets were
glowing with purifying energy was the real shocker.
He watched, stunned, as both shots fired hit their marks, and two of the bats
shrieked as the holy light obliterated them. He whirled to stare at Emma who was still
holding the smoking rifle and looking just as surprised as he was.
`Oh shit, she's a miko!'
A miko who had just come into her power the same way his own mother had
come into hers: in the midst of life-threatening battle. A miko who was now looking at
him as if she had never seen him before.
`Shit. The concealment spell doesn't work on her anymore!'
********
Emma was terrified. She couldn't remember a time when she had felt such horror
and fear. From the moment she had come out of the hogan to find her cousin down on the
ground with blood on his forehead, Yukio holding a very big sword, and a mob of angry
Navajos threatening the home, she had been more angry than frightened. Then all that
had changed when these things had come diving out of the sky. They looked like bats,
but not like any bats she had ever seen. They were huge and had blazing red eyes, and
they shrieked as they came down, mouths full of deadly teeth.
`Dear God what are those things?!'
Yukio roared and white lightning came out of his sword, killing five of the big
bats with one strike.
`Oh my God. How can a sword do that?'
Unfortunately, the bats had hit two of the mob and both were wounded. She was
trying to wrap her head around what was happening when Yukio turned to her and
ordered her to stay behind him. Then he attacked again and killed four more.
`Oh good,' she thought with some relief. `He can kill them...'
But her relief was short-lived, however, when she saw that the bats were able to
evade the lighting coming from Yukio's blade. She could see him getting frustrated as his
swings became more forceful and heated, but he still kept missing, and each time the bats
got closer and closer to them.
`It's only a matter of time before those things get one of us! I have to do
something to help him.'
She looked down at the rifle she was holding. She knew it was loaded and there
was a box of bullets on the ground at her feet. It was a general purpose hunting rifle; not
unlike the ones her family had been hunting with for decades. Theoretically she could
load and shoot it without too much difficulty, and she was a fair shot.
`I might not be able to hit too many of them, but I might be able to draw them in
closer so Yukio can get them with his sword...'
She lifted the rifle, aimed and fired, then quickly reloaded and fired off a second
shot. She felt something odd as she pulled the trigger; an energy that flowed out of her
hands, but she chalked it up to nerves. She'd never been this close to death before, and
she knew that she needed to give herself a little slack if she was feeling out of sorts.
Her first hint that what she was feeling might not be nerves was when she noticed
that the bullets were glowing with bright white light. She watched them flying towards
the two bats she had targeted and both hit home. The bats screamed upon impact and
were quickly consumed by the light, shrieking as they disappeared.
`What
the
Hell...'
S he looked down at the rifle, then back up at Yukio and gasped. The veneer of the
handsome Asian man was gone, and she knew she was seeing him in his true form. His
hair was silver white, his eyes a vivid gold, and his ears were canine ears that sat on the
top of his head. He must have realized that she could see through his spell because he
stared at her just as she was staring at him. She stammered, her jaw working, but her
mouth refused to make any sounds. He snarled, pulling back his upper lip to reveal two
sharp fangs, and craned his head up to the remaining ten bats.
"What are you waiting for?! A written invitation?" he yelled. "Reload and shoot!"
She was still stammering when he spun on one foot and swung his sword again.
To her horror, he missed the diving bats and two of them swept into the mob. She heard
twin sickening thuds, and their accompanying screams, as the bats snared two men in
their talons. When the creatures lifted off she saw that each had a victim, one of whom
was no more than a boy.
"No!" she cried, and grabbed for the box of bullets.
Thankfully Yukio was already moving, and she saw him make an incredible leap
upward to grab the bat that had captured the boy. She brought up the rifle and aimed at
the bats nearest to her. She didn't dare shoot the bat that carried the man because she
feared it would then drop its prey, letting the man fall to his death. Instead she aimed for
the bats surrounding him, letting her inner voice tell her when to pull the trigger. Each
time she fired, the bullets glowed and they hit their marks with an accuracy she had never
been able to master before.
She let off half a dozen shots, and felled six of the horrible things, then took a
moment to catch her breath and locate Yukio. Above her, she could barely see the two
bats she was looking for: one who carried a man whom she now was fairly certain was
dead, and the other who carried a kicking boy in its talons and a silver-haired dog demon
on its back. Yukio's hair gleamed in the moonlight, and she could see him struggling
with the creature as it tried to get more distance between it and the ground.
Next to her David moaned, and she knew that he was regaining consciousness.
She didn't know how badly he'd been hurt, but she could see a nasty gash on his temple.
She wanted to help him, or at least get him into the hogan, but she didn't dare leave the
battle. Yukio was depending upon her to help bring down the remaining bat things, and
she didn't have time to play nursemaid to her cousin.
"Are you okay?" she asked him, sparing a glance down as she reloaded the rifle.
"What's going on?" David asked, his voice unsteady.
"You don't want to know. Just stay down and do something about that gash on
your head; you're bleeding a lot, and blood scent is not what we need right now."
She aimed and fired, taking out one of the remaining five.
"What the hell..." David slurred.
She reloaded and fired again. Three to go. "I told you, you don't want to know."
She set her site on the remaining unburdened monster and put pressure on the
trigger. Her shot was interrupted, however, by the arrival of a whole host of new bats
coming to join the fight.
`Oh my god, there's more of them!'
At the same time the bats appeared, she heard a terrible scream and looked up just
in time to see Yukio, and the boy the bat had been carrying, falling from the sky. She
watched in horror, and in awe, as Yukio grabbed the screaming boy in freefall and
deliberately placed himself underneath the child so that he would hit the ground first.
There was no such luck for the other Navajo the bats had grabbed, and he fell to earth as
well. But there was no sound coming from him, confirming her suspicion that the man
was almost certainly already dead.
All three landed within moments of each other, but she couldn't see them beyond
the cowering mob and the cloud of dust kicked up by the impact. She waited, straining,
hoping beyond hope that at least one of them had survived. If Yukio had been injured,
she didn't know what she was going to do. The number of enemies against them had just
significantly multiplied, and there was no one left that could help her fight. The mob, she
was sure, was all but useless, and she had the only rifle that had been in the hogan.
Unless Inuyasha and Kagome returned very soon, she feared that they would be
overwhelmed.
She reloaded the rifle, intending to buy them as much time as possible (or at least
go down fighting) and fired into the swarm, sending off as many rounds as she could as
quickly as possible. She had taken out four of them when she heard a tremendous roar
from behind the mob. She had no words to describe her joy, and relief, as she watched
Yukio leap into the air, sword swinging in a wide arc and letting out a blast of power that
ripped through the bats.
"Yukio!" she cried, and followed up his attack with another volley of bullets.
He landed, barefoot and bloodied, a few paces from her, and the ground cracked
from the impact. There was a feral gleam in his eyes as he snarled and swung the sword
again.
"Die!!" he yelled as more bats met their fate.
He turned to her on the backswing, eyes focusing for a moment upon her and the
rifle. "Are you alright?"
"Yes."
He nodded and launched another attack.
"How is the boy? Did he live?" she asked desperately.
"Some broken bones and scared to death, but he'll be fine if we can get him
medical attention. Not much I could do for the other one though, his neck was broken
before he fell."
"Can we beat them, you and I?"
He looked at her, and his eyes said everything she did not want to hear. "Fire your
purifying bullets, miko, and pray my parents get back soon."
He had no more words for her as he threw himself back into the battle, putting
himself between the bats and the terrified mob. Some of the Navajos were coming out of
their fear and aiming at the bats with their own rifles, but she doubted that they would be
able to do much good. She reloaded and fired again.
********
They were almost back. They were almost out of gas. Inuyasha's feet had
pounded two large dents in the roof of the Jeep. She was going as fast as she dared on the
dirt roads after dark, and she prayed it would be fast enough. After they had seen such a
small group of the Terror Bats break off to fly towards the hogan while the rest of the
swarm headed south, they had relaxed a little because they knew that Yukio was more
than capable of handling a couple of dozen Terror Bats on his own. But the sense of
urgency returned tenfold when a second group of the bats, this one comprising at least
another thirty individuals, came streaking out of the south.
"Oi! Kagome! Hurry it up!" her mate ordered, his voice angry and harsh.
"I'm going as fast as I can!"
She couldn't blame him for wanting her to go faster. She was feeling the urgency
herself, but it wouldn't help their son any if they wrecked the Jeep on the way back.
Michael was being accommodatingly quiet, although she thought that had little to do with
manners as it did with his own anger and fear. She realized that, until he'd seen the
Terror Bats for himself, he'd really had no idea what it was they were up against; but now
that he'd witnessed them firsthand, the reality of the situation was really hitting home.
She could see him in the rearview mirror. His face was drawn and his jaw was
tight with clenched teeth. No doubt Inuyasha wore the same expression somewhere above
her on the roof of the Jeep. Her own hands were wrapped tightly around the steering
wheel, gripping it as hard as she could. Yukio was out there, and he was fighting the
terror bats on his own, of that she was certain, although why he had drawn Kenshuga
before the bats had even gotten to him, she could only guess.
`Was there another cave of them? Or a different threat that he felt he needed to
use his sword?'
They didn't know, and they wouldn't know until they got back to the hogan.
There was a loud thud as she ran over a rock and she heard Inuyasha curse.
"Oi! Watch it, Kagome!"
"I'm sorry! You know this ground is uneven!"
"Be careful, we're approaching an arroyo," Michael warned shakily. "If you don't
look out, you'll drive right into it."
"Okay," she answered, and concentrated on trying to see what little she could of
the road ahead.
They avoided the arroyo, but not by much, and she sent the Jeep careening around
a sharp bend. The moment they cleared the turn the hogan came blessedly into view, and
she could see the new swarm of bats join the rest. Her heart caught in her throat as she
watched her eldest son throw himself into the battle, sword swinging, hair flying behind
him. She slammed her foot down on the gas pedal, forcing the Jeep as fast as it would go.
"Kongousouha!" she heard Inuyasha yell as he sent forth a blast of diamond
spears from his blade.
The attack flew right into the middle of the swarm, piercing bodies and delicate
wing membranes. She saw three fall. Then there was a loud bang, and she saw a flash of
purifying energy hit one of the bats.
`Purifying energy?' she thought, confused, even as she was making the Jeep skid
to a halt in front of the hogan.
Inuyasha was off the roof and swinging Tessaiga before she had a chance to turn
off the engine.
"Kongousouha!" her mate shouted again and another diamond spear blast
exploded through the swarm.
She practically threw herself out of the Jeep and ran for the rear compartment
where she kept her bow. Behind her she heard the sound of another gunshot and felt the
purifying force.
`There has to be another miko here...'
She grabbed her bow and quiver of arrows and ran to join the fray. She found
herself in the middle of a warzone. There was a group of strange Navajos, many armed
with rifles, shooting ordinary bullets up into the circling swarm. Bodies of felled bats
littered the ground, some of them in multiple pieces, but so far she didn't see any human
remains. Looking at the hogan, she saw David slumped against the wall. Emma was
standing beside him, a rifle in her hands. Then she saw the Cree woman fire a purifying
bullet from the gun and knew she had found her miko.
"Emma!" she cried, rushing over to the young woman.
"Kagome," Emma replied, looking frightened but relieved.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, but David is hurt."
She looked down and saw a minor wound on the man's temple.
"I'm okay," he insisted, but his glazed eyes said otherwise.
`Hmm, concussion maybe,' she thought. `But not a serious one.'
"What are these things, Kagome?" Emma asked, firing another purifying bullet.
Like her own arrows, Emma's bullets did not miss their target, and another bat
fell.
"They're Terror Bats," she explained over the chaos of battle.
"How many more of them are there?"
"I don't know. Most of the swarm was headed south!"
"Okaa-san!" Yukio yelled as he landed next to her. His hair and eyes were wild,
and his clothes were splattered with blood.
"Yukio!"
"Now that Otou-san is here, we have the battle, but there are wounded... a boy
especially..." her son told her, waving a hand in the direction of a nearby bluff.
"I'll see what I can do!" she answered, already moving.
Scrambling over the hard ground, she found the boy and assessed his condition.
He had a broken leg, a broken arm, and several contusions. She hated to move him, but
she had to get him out of the danger zone. She was frantically trying to figure out a way
to get him into the hogan without doing him more damage when someone landed on his
knees next to her.
"My God what is happening here?" Michael gasped, his eyes wide with shock.
"It's okay. Inuyasha and Yukio can handle them." `As long as the rest of the
swarm doesn't decide to come.' "Here! Help me! We need to get the wounded into the
hogan."
Michael nodded and began issuing directions in Dineh, urging the men to get into
the safety of the hogan, then he helped her carry the boy. She called out to David as they
passed, telling him to get up and come inside. She was relieved when she saw him
struggle to his feet and follow.
"Emma!" she called.
The Cree woman shook her head as she reloaded her rifle. "I'm staying out here. I
can help!"
Part of what was left of a bat fell near her feet, and she decided not to argue.
Michael opened the hogan door and all of them spilled in, much to Ruth and Sara's
concern.
"What is going on?" Sara demanded, clutching her crying son close to her chest.
"It sounds like a horrible monster is out there!"
"Monsters," her brother corrected. "Monsters."
"This boy is badly hurt. I can treat him as best I can, but we'll need to get him to a
hospital as soon as possible," she explained as they laid the barely conscious boy on the
hogan floor. "Sara is there a first aid kit here in the hogan?"
"Yes! It's on the shelves against the east wall."
Good. That meant she didn't have to go out to the Jeep to get her bag. At least not
right away. She could concentrate on putting a barrier up so that the bats couldn't get in.
"I'm going to cast a shield spell to keep the bats out," she told Michael. "It'll
protect everyone in here."
"You can do something like that?" he asked.
"When you have hanyou babies that everyone wants to kill, you learn how to cast
shields pretty quickly. Watch the boy. This won't take me long."
She saw him nod and nodded back. Breathing deep, she pulled her power to her
and built the barrier, defining it and giving it form. Then she cast it outwards, and it
expanded like a giant bubble until it encompassed the entire hogan. She did it so easily
that it amazed even her. There had been a time when barriers had been difficult for her,
but time and practice had made her an expert. Now only a select handful of individuals
could best her shields, Midorikyou being one of them. But then the immortal miko had
taught her everything she knew.
Barrier in place, she breathed a sigh of relief and moved to tend to the wounded.
Ruth had risen to her feet and she was glad to see the old woman already moving to boil
water and gather triage supplies. Sara, on the other hand, was staring at the bedraggled
crowd in the hogan with anger and shock.
"Tommy Begay! Bobby! Les!" the girl cried, obviously recognizing some of the
men in the six or so who had come running into the hogan. The remaining Navajos had
opted to stay outside, probably to keep fighting.
She didn't know why there had been a group of armed Navajos outside the hogan
when the bats had attacked but she could take a few guesses. Her suspicions were
confirmed when she saw one of them look hatefully at the baby in Sara's arms.
"The Skinwalker had to be destroyed," one of them explained sullenly.
"You were going to kill me and my baby!" the teenager accused.
"Not you! Just the witch child!" another argued.
From the corner of her eye, as she attempted to determine how bad the boy's
bones were broken, she saw Sara turn Peter towards the men. She knew that the
concealment necklace was still on the baby so he now looked completely human.
"Does
this look like a Skinwalker to you?" Sara seethed.
The men gasped. "Vincent told us he was half animal! Half Coyote!" one insisted.
"My father is a drunk. How can you believe anything he says?"
"If it is not a Skinwalker why did it send its giant flying death bats to kill us?!"
another demanded.
"Those weren't sent by the Skinwalker!" Michael interrupted. "They were sent by
greedy Whites looking to steal our uranium."
"Our uranium?"
"Yes. We found their lair. They've been here for months, killing livestock and
even some people. The cave was littered with bones. They're from Asia. They didn't get
here by accident," she told them, adding weight to Michael's words.
On the floor, the boy moaned in pain and she had to focus her attention on him.
Ruth came to join her and the next several minutes were taken up with treating the
wounded. The boy's injuries were the worst, thankfully. Everyone else suffered some
minor scrapes and bruises, although one man had been gouged with talons but his leather
vest had protected him from most of it.
As she worked, she could hear and feel the battle raging outside, and she prayed
that the rest of the swarm continued on its way south to wherever it was going. If it
decided to turn back north...
She cursed under her breath.
"What I wouldn't give for a working cell phone!" she complained to no one.
"My phone works," she heard David reply.
"It does?" she asked, turning her head to look at him in shock.
"Yeah. I have satellite service. It's the only service that works out here."
If she had a cell phone she could call Sesshoumaru...
"May I use it, please?"
Wincing, one hand to his bruised head, he reached down into his bag and pulled
out a flip phone.
"Sure. Here it is."
"Arigato!" she cried happily as she grabbed the phone from his hand, her fingers
already dialing the familiar number.
"Yes?" her brother-in-law's voice said tersely, and she'd never heard a more
welcome sound in all her life.
"Sesshoumaru! Something terrible is happening!" she said and quickly explained
the situation.
A furious growl came over the line, then the taiyoukai's cold voice answered, "It
shall be dealt with immediately."
The tone of his voice made her shiver, and she thanked the gods he was on her
side.
"Thank you Sesshoumaru-sama."
"Do you need assistance there?"
She thought of how Inuyasha would feel if agents from his brother showed up to
join the fray and gulped.
"No. Inuyasha and Yukio are alright. It's the rest of the swarm that needs to be
taken care of."
"Understood."
The line went dead and she knew he had hung up. She was too relieved to be
irritated by his rudeness. Sesshoumaru was always that way, and there was no sense in
getting angry about it now. Besides, she now didn't have to worry about the rest of the
swarm.
She shuddered, remembering the controlled fury in Sesshoumaru's voice.
She prayed for the poor, hapless bats about to face the full anger of the Lord of
the West. They didn't have a chance.