InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Guardian Cu' ❯ Chapter 15 ( Chapter 15 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

The Characters and World of InuYasha belong entirely to the admirable and talented Rumiko Takahashi. I in no way lay claim to them or make any money off of them.
Cu' the Guardian, aka GinCu' is mine, so is his meadow and the plot of this story.




Chapter Fifteen


“ I really should congratulate you on sending out such an interesting choice of emissaries this time,” the intrusive voice in Cu's inner ear slyly chuckled. “ To think that they were actually competent enough to bring down seven of my most talented converts as well as survive the complete destruction of a sacred mountain leaves me almost speechless in awe...” There was no mistaking the facetiousness oozing like a thick sticky resin through the speaker's voice, “ I'm impressed, Guardian..really I am.”

“ If that twisted assortment of souls represent what you refer to as 'talent' these days, then this isn't going to be much of a contest, is it?” Cu' stretched lazily and settled against against the low boulder he was currently using as a backrest. “ By the way I'll be reclaiming that particular bunch of 'converts' when this is all over. It really is a crime the way you warp and misinform infant souls.”

Drifting down as lightly as a falling leaf the speaker seemed to settle on the grass beside the boulder just to Cu's right. With an indignant huff it gave voice to a rather irritated sounding protest,“ I just show them the truth...how limited order is as an actual function within the universe.. Open their eyes to how the physical cosmos really works..”

The Guardian leaned his head slightly toward the unseen speaker and replied in a low and even voice, “ You show them lies in order to keep them from their natural advancement. You damn them to make the same mistakes over and over so that they cannot perceive you for what you truly are.”

“ I am as necessary to the dance of creation as you are Guardian...” Irritation took a quick backseat to indignation as the point from which the speaker's voice seemed to emanate rose rapidly to hover above Cu's still inclined head.

A faint trace of a smile curled up along the left corner of Cu's mouth at his invisible visitor's rapid loss of temper. With a sigh he whispered, “ In your appointed place, yes you are very necessary...but the Guardianship of Souls was never meant to be one of your duties.”

“ Why shouldn't it be?” By now stirred into a definite pique the hovering voice boasted defiantly , “ I can guide them along every bit as well as you.”

“ I have already given you my opinion on that matter and as usual you are too busy listening to the sound of your own ranting to heed the counsel of another.” Cu' rested his folded arms across his chest. “ Souls that have been free to mature as they normally should will always have the advantage when dealing with the stunted ones you employ. It was no surprise at all to me that they defeated the seven and it will come as no surprise to me when they take down your king as well. They've blown that little bastard into pieces how many times now?”

“ You confuse true skill with luck, Cu'. How blind you have become... falling prey to that childish fallacy,” At that moment somewhere in the universe there was an immortal being who's perfect face was twisted into so hideous a sneer that the expression easily came through in the speaker's ice riddled tone.

“ One of us is certainly a bit confused right now, but it isn't me,” with a benign smile Cu' used his calm demeanor and soft voice to further goad his opponent, “ I know the souls I have sent out will make the right choices. They will defeat whatever you choose to send against them...”

“ Oh, I don't think so,” the speaker snapped back, “ While that little group of yours is certainly determined, I think it will only be a matter of time before I start adding them to my collection as well.” Giving a smug little laugh the voice seemed to move as if the speaker were pacing slowly back and forth in front of the Guardian, “ You released a only handful to do the work of a god. How damn effective can a few sniveling mortal lives be? Tell me Cu', in the end how will your half of a squad be able to stand fast when confronted by my whole army?”

“ Probably in the same way that they have done in the past, by blowing it into tiny smoldering bits. You know, your army tends to look good spread out in steaming lumps upon the ground..”

“ I really do hate you Cu',” The voice stopped moving for a moment, “ and I am so going to enjoy watching you cry over your losses this time.”

“ Tell me, did you just happen to notice that I was sitting here enjoying myself and decide to pop out of the woodwork to try and spoil my quiet time or do you actually have something meaningful to say?” Folding his hands behind his head and the Guardian leaned back and gazed skyward at a bank of thunderheads slowly building under the unrelenting heat of the mid afternoon sun.

“ Very funny...what are you doing out here that's so important? Watching a few measly clouds roll by? Cu' you're the only deity I know who could actually get some kind of cheap thrill watching paint dry.” Like some invisible snake the voice slithered over to coil up next to the Guardian's right shoulder. “ I bet you do just that..don't you..watch paint dry,” A scratchy whisper stirred the fine hairs along the edge of Cu's ear. “ If...if I really wanted to spoil things for you, I'd manifest right here next to you. Then you'd be forced to chat with me face to face.”

An agreeable grin stretched across the Guardian's face. “ Then by all means be my guest, I'm giving you a one time invitation to manifest...right here...right now...go on..do it..,” there was a good humored twinkle lighting the depths of Cu's eyes, “ I believe watching a minor implosion would be a more than amusing way to liven up my day. Tell me do you think you'll disappear through the vacuous hole of your mouth..or just shrivel up inside your own ass?”

Something that sounded curiously like a cross between a disgruntled snort and a rude guffaw rang out in the sultry afternoon air. “ I could offer you the same invitation to my realm..”

“ Why do you think I'd want to visit you? I get enough of your company with these little intrusions you so thoughtfully make all the time. It's you who are always coming around to bother me. I have yet to go seek you out just to be annoying.” Cu' shook his head then laughed simply to irritate the speaker. “For someone who just professed their hatred, you can't seem to get your fill of me.” Lazily waving his right hand, the Guardian caused a small cooling breeze to spring up. “ While I really dislike disappointing most beings, except for you, try to remember one tiny thing , I'm immortal. If all of this meaningless conversation is only another shallow attempt to bore me to death then, like everything else you do, it's just another losing battle.”

“ Pfft...say, tell me...” Realizing that the current subject wasn't eliciting quite the response from the Guardian that the speaker had hoped for, the sly intruder decided to change topics.“What was the big idea saving that dead priestess again? You got plans for her or something?” A poorly disguised note of calculation marked this not so subtle inquiry, “I mean, what good can a dead soul eater possibly do for your cause?”

“ All you need to know is that I thought painfully dissolving away in a stinking river of miasma to be a sorry way to end an already sadly unfortunate life,” Cu' seemed to roll a thought around in his head briefly before adding, “ Well, except for those pitiful creations you insist on sending out...for them a miasma bath probably would be considered a mercy killing.”

“ You do have plans for her, don't you?” The voice eased around the boulder behind him. “ Let's see, you've already saved her little baked clay carcass twice, made sure she has a shitload of power at her disposal...Why does she need all of that spiritual power Cu'? Why?” There was the low hiss next to his left ear. “ Because...that's your trump this time isn't it?...that gravesoil Miko. Your plan is to try to take out my king with your dead queen.”

“Really, it's no such thing..” Cu' weakly protested with a hesitant catch in his throat. Fully aware that while the speaker could easily pick up on the nuances coloring his voice, it was blind to the expressions playing across his face, the Guardian smiled broadly, wiggled his fingers and watched with gratification as the slowly building clouds picked up their pace. “This place is a long overdue for a nice bit of rain,” he muttered under his breath.

Ignoring his off subject comment the voice continued to pursue it's line of reasoning “Oh, don't lie to me Cu'. I've already killed her off once and you let her be brought back as a revenant. Hmm...Why didn't I see that before...if she wasn't so important, you'd never have had her resurrected in that manner.” Another low sly chuckle erupted from the empty space occupied by the oily voice. “ She and that half breed warrior are connected souls, aren't they?...oh, Cu'..you sent out a pair of Others to fight me this time. Now I really am sincerely touched.”

Seemingly oblivious to the prying speaker on his shoulder, Cu' scanned the horizon for another promising raft of clouds. A fluffy white cluster sailing serenely over the valley caught his eye and he began to coax them into building up as well.

“ Are they close? Well are they? You know your silence is just as enlightening as a holy mountain full of information, Cu',” A definite hint of greed crept into the voice, “ This pair of Others...Are they close to becoming?....maybe close enough to be a Guardian soul in the making?” Shifting around like a small eddy in the breeze the voice let loose a throaty cackle. “ It would really piss you off if I stole them away from you...wouldn't it? Should be easy enough to do with closely bound souls...Kill the queen again and the warrior will fall out of grief. I'll just make it a point to be around to snap up them up when their souls are caught in those dying moments of despair....”

“ As usual you are much more convinced of your capabilities than I ever will be.” Cu' dismissively brushed off his left shoulder, “ Trying to second guess me will be your downfall.”

“ You are so damned predictable Cu',” the speaker spat out contemptuously as it moved away from the Guardian, “ You've gambled everything on a queen before and lost. This time won't be any different.”

Slender fingers coaxing the flattening cloudtops higher, Cu' merely rolled his eyes as a definite snicker sounded from the area behind his left ear.

“ I'll take out your dead queen when I find where you have hidden her and then your warrior. Tell me, what will you be left with after I clear those two off the board? A band of children trying to fight a giant!” There was a growing confidence apparent in the haughty sounding voice that was once again on the move. “And all this time I thought it was only the warrior and his immediate companions that constituted the real threat. But you know in spite of being your emissaries, that bunch is truly so full of anger and doubt that it will only serve to make my own trump stronger in the end.” A wild peal of laughter swung back around the far side of the boulder to hover again behind Cu's right ear. “ I'm going to claim those souls, twist them up, tear them asunder and send them back to haunt you...are they all as precious to you as the dead Miko and her warrior? The truth Cu'...Will you grieve for them as you did for the lost queen? Will you...”

With a hard snap of his fingers, Cu' abruptly stilled the annoying voice, “The queen isn't lost,” he said softly to no one but himself. “ We are merely waiting to reclaim what you have stolen.”

In the distance a jagged bolt of lightening split the dark shadows gathered beneath the towering anvil topped clouds. After a long minute the sound of thunder rumbled across a valley still pleasantly dozing in the afternoon sun as the breeze playing with Cu' silver colored hair freshened and brought with it the watery scent of distant rain. Sitting comfortably against his rocky cushion, the Guardian serenely watched the early fall storm play out across the valley as it moved majestically toward the east. As if trying to outrace their more impressive brothers, smaller clouds skirted along the edges of the thunderheads, their flight casting rapidly moving shadows across the blanket of thick verdant meadow grass covering the hillside stretching out below him. Rippling in long overlapping silken waves the green and gold blades moved in a sensuous rhythm under the hand of the wind stirred up by the passing storm. Closing his eyes, Cu' let the scent of the rain on the mist laden air wash over him as he patiently waited for an ever roaming group of his favorite children.



She could hear him calling out for her in that rickety high pitched voice laced with undisguised irritation but for the moment the weaving of a handful of yellow and white flowers into a keepsake for her Lord took precedence over the demands of a little green imp. Cheerfully engrossed in her project the little girl half hummed, half sang a sweetly simple song that was nothing more than a childish paean to the future recipient of her emblossomed gift. She was happy to be able to offer him these simple treasures that were born out of the love in her heart because of all the beings inhabiting the earth, her Lord was the only one that was deserving of her unwavering devotion and profound respect.

In a distant past, before him, there had been another life which now lay now half forgotten under the silent shadows of grief and misery. She had not been sorry to leave it behind. Her life was so much brighter now since he had called her away from that old existence. It was as if her eyes had been fully opened to the beauty inherent in the world around her the first time she had looked up into eyes as golden as the sun set in a pale solemn face glowing with the translucence of moonlight. He had gazed back at her with an odd mixture of curiosity, relief and satisfaction stirring in the depths of those sunlight colored eyes, although no one but the keenly observant child would have ever discerned even the faintest hint of emotion on his perfectly immobile face. With that look, in that moment and even though still only a small child, in her heart she had fallen in love with him. It was something that was forever, that she knew was meant to be and her one unspoken wish was that he would not leave her behind before she had a chance to grow up and tell him how she truly felt about him.

Finally satisfied that her garland was finished the child placed it on her head with a delighted giggle, stood up, brushed her hands together and started to set out in the direction from which she had last heard Master Jaken's high pitched voice. The smokey scent of a newly started campfire stopped her in her tracks. Thinking that perhaps the imp had given up in his search and decided to cook something for dinner instead the little girl followed her nose down the hill to where a large boulder sat like a solitary monument overlooking the valley below. Peeking around the stony outcropping, she was surprised to see not the ever irritable Master Jaken but a tall silver haired man that reminded her a little of her Lord and even more of her Lord's younger brother.

Cautiously she began to ease back around the rock when one of the silver haired man's upright dog-like ears swiveled in her direction. This action was quickly followed by his sparkling gray eyes sliding sideways to fix her with a curious gaze. Turning his head back over his shoulder to look at her directly, he raised his right hand, index finger crooked and motioned to his little guest to step forward.

“ You have nothing to fear from me Rin,” he said in a deep, quiet voice. “ Please, have a seat.. would you care for some tea..perhaps a sweetened rice cake?”

An offer of food wasn't something that Rin was prepared to turn down if her Lord wasn't around to expressly forbid her acceptance of this gift of hospitality. With a shy smile she ventured over to the campfire and took a seat on the ground next to her host.

“ How do you know this Rin's name?” she asked curiously. “ What is your name? Are you a hanyou like my Lord's brother? Rin is not supposed to talk about him but he has ears just like yours.”

With a smile the silver- haired man reached for a small kettle swinging from an iron hook over the fire “ I know a great many people by name, Little Rin.” Placing the kettle on the ground between his feet, he bent to fish two earthenware cups from a sack next to him. “ My name is Cu' or Gin Cu' if it pleases you to call me that instead.” Picking up the kettle he filled one of the cups and presented it to Rin. “ I am not a very good tea maker..it may taste a bit strong...”

Rin blew on the steamy hot liquid to cool it, took a tentative sip then grinned up at Cu'. “ It is fine, Rin hasn't had tea in a long time.”

“ Thank you,” Cu' poured himself a cup, set it aside to cool,then turned his attention back to the contents of the bag. Pulling out a pair of covered lacquered boxes he removed their lids revealing one to be full of sweetened rice balls and the other of dumplings. The girl's eyes grew round with surprise.

“ It smells so good,” she whispered almost reverently as Cu' presented her with a pair of chopsticks.

“ Help yourself,” he grinned at the child who was already cramming a second dumpling into her mouth. Sipping contentedly on his tea, the Guardian watched the child plow through the tasty contents of the pair of boxes with undeniable gusto. She reminded him of a certain young hanyou who had once sat at his campfire and stuffed himself almost to the point of insensibility on river trout.

Once she began to slow down in her assault upon the rice and dumplings he restarted the conversation, “ So Little Rin, why is such a young child like yourself wandering around alone in the wilderness so far away from any village?”

“ Oh, Rin is not alone Lord GinCu'. Rin is out here with her Lord and Master Jaken and Aun.” Sipping on her now cooled tea the girl smiled at him over the edge of her cup.

“ Why you have a veritable army with you then,” Cu' chuckled.

“ My Lord is better than any army,” the little girl declared confidently. “ My lord is strong and brave and kind and wise.”

“ Is that who you have woven the pretty wreath of flowers for?” Pointing at the top of her head the Guardian watched the child's eyes sparkle with happiness as she nodded 'yes' enthusiastically.

“ I am sure he will be very pleased with your lovely gift. May I ask you the name of your Lord?”

Rin nodded again. Setting her cup down between her feet she folded her hands primly in her lap and declared in a clear high voice, “ Rin's Lord is the Ruler of the Western Lands, Lord Sesshoumaru.”

Cu' looked into the eyes of the child and saw the depth of feeling that she had hidden there. He gave her a warm smile. “ He certainly must be a very great Lord to command such respect as I see within you, Rin.”

“ This Rin owes Lord Sesshoumaru her life,” she smiled back, then glanced up at the darkening sky.“ Master Jaken will be worried. Rin thanks you for the meal, but..”

“ Master Jaken and your Lord will be here with us before long.” Cu' poked at the fire with a stick, then refreshed the two cups of tea. “ It would be better if you waited for them here, safe by the fire rather than wandering around in the woods after dark.”

“ How do you know they will be here soon Lord GinCu'?” Rin picked up her cup of tea, then looked up into the Guardian's silvery eyes.

“ How did I know that you were named Rin?” Cu' replied as he picked up his own cup of tea.

“ Are you a youkai? You don't feel like a youkai,” the child blew the steam across the top of the cup as she gazed at Cu' with a puzzled frown.

“ I am not a youkai, nor am I a hanyou...I am a Guardian and as such will see to it that no harm comes to you before your protector arrives.”

Rin nodded apparently satisfied with his answer. She took a quick sip of tea then looked back at Cu' with her soft dark brown eyes sparkling happily. “ Do you know any stories? Rin likes stories but Master Jaken isn't very good at telling them.”

“ I know a few.” Warming his hands with his cup, Cu' leaned back against the boulder. A wickedly impish twinkle lit his glittering gray eyes, “ In fact, I know one right off the top of my head you might enjoy.”

“ Really?” the girl scooted closer to the Guardian, her eyes fixed on his face in rapt attention, “ What is it about?”

“ A princess and a puppy...have you heard it?”

Rin shook her head in an emphatic ' No' and leaned forward eager to hear this new tale.

“ Well,” Cu' began with a grin, “ A very long time ago...”