InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Half Demon Child ❯ Chapter 14 ( Chapter 14 )

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha, the Anime series InuYasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I don't own any of the characters, which means I don't own InuYasha, Kagome, Shippo, Miroku, Sango, Kirara, Kikyo, Naraku, Kagura and I can go on. However, the characters I made up such as Tani and Larina belong to me.

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The young half demon child, who was still in her human state, had taken a great big plunge into the water and began to swim about, deep within the lake, enjoying the fresh clean water which she swam in as she washed off the blood and dirt from her previous battle with InuYasha and Kikyo.

 

“I just don't understand how InuYasha and his friends could have gotten a hold of my ocarina…and necklace…” Tani thought. She frowned, “he must have stolen it when I turned into a human or maybe when I was a… demon since everything went black when I became one…” she continued as she thought back to the last time she had actually seen InuYasha.

 

Tani continued to swim about in the great lake as she realized that she needed air and began to swim her way up to the surface. When she reached to the surface, she took a great gasp and she shook her head to get the water out her ears. She then looked about and looked up at the young boy in his battle outfit who was looking after her with his back facing her. Tani gave him a quizzical look.

 

“I wonder what he's thinking about…” She wondered as she observed him, “he seems to be in deep thought…”

 

--

 

“Kohaku, make sure that nothing happens to the girl understand? She's human now and that's her vulnerable state,” Kohaku remembered Naraku ordering him as his voice ran through his mind, “You will protect her life if you wish to extend yours…”

 

“I have to make sure that nothing happens to her…” Kohaku reminded himself. But then suddenly that girl with the same demon slayer outfit of his came to his mind once more as he tried numerous times to forget her face, “curses… she still lingers through my head… when will she stop haunting me?”

 

“K-Kohaku…?” Tani called as she put on her clothes and tried to squeeze the remaining water out of her now open dark brown hair behind the bushes.

 

Kohaku turned around.

 

“t-that is your name… i-is it not?” she asked as she came out of the bushes.

 

“Uh… yes…” Kohaku responded.

 

Tani stared up at him for a moment to study his face. Kohaku began to feel a little bit uncomfortable and slightly irritated.

 

“Is something bothering you…?” Tani asked, “you usually seem… tense…”

 

“N-no… why do you say that?” Kohaku asked.

 

Tani shrugged her shoulders, “I don't know, you just never… talk,” she shook her head, “not really, no.”

 

“Well… nothing is bothering me…” Kohaku replied.

 

“You sure?” She asked with so much concern, “My mother always taught me that if I ever have a problem I should always talk about it, it makes me feel better.”

 

“Well I don't and I would like it if you change the subject, please.” The young boy asked, getting tense now.

 

Tani flinched from his words and quickly apologized, “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be such a burden…” she said quietly.

 

It was quiet now as Kohaku jumped off from the tree branch that he sat on to land infront of Tani. Neither of them knew what to do until all of a sudden, Tani's stomach began to growl very loudly. Tani blushed as she rested her hand on her stomach and then looked up at Kohaku.

 

“…something the matter…?” Kohaku asked.

 

Tani didn't respond right away, she really embarrassed as her stomach growled once more, even louder than before, “i-it's my stomach…” she replied sheepishly as she looked away from Kohaku, “I haven't eating for quite a while,” she then turned to Kohaku as she tried to force herself to stop blushing, “I'm starving…”

 

“Well then… let's go find you some food…” Kohaku responded plainly as he began to walk.

 

Tani watched him go, she wasn't sure what to think of the young demon slayer; he is a strange one she decided, but who was she the one to judge. She then shook off the thought and remembered her hunger as she ran up to catch up to Kohaku.

 

The two kids had been walking through the fields and Tani spotted out a tree up ahead that seemed to grow food just outside a village.

 

“Oh look! There are fruits growing out of the tree! They look like… apples!” She said as she ran up to the tree.

 

Kohaku watched her run up to the tree as he then followed as he made his way to the apple tree himself.

 

Tani stopped running once she reached to the apple tree which stood before her. She looked up at the apple tree with amazement as she licked her lips and clapped her hands together. She then jumped in hopes to float her way to the delicious red apples as she then realized that she was human and all her demonic powers were gone.

 

Tani sighed, “What I'd give to be a half demon again…”

 

“Do you need help getting the apples?” Kohaku asked.

 

Tani turned to the demon slayer and shook her head and then focused her attention back to the apple tree, “no, I can get it, I can climb my way up,” she said as she brought out her hands and dug her nails into the tree as deep as she could and then winced from the pain as she realized that she dug in too deep and removed her hands from the tree, “right… no claws either…” she realized, “it seems like forever since I was last human that I've gotten used to being a half demon...”

 

“Are you sure you can get it?” Kohaku asked.

 

“…Yes,” Tani responded, “Just let me try again.” She said as dug her nails into the tree and began to climb her way up the tree.

 

With every grunt and groan she made, she was getting closer and closer to the delicious apples. She had finally grabbed a hold of a branch and pulled herself up on the branch, cautiously; she didn't want the branch to break. As she got onto the branch, apples were already beginning to fall off of it. None the less, Tani made herself comfortable on the branch and pulled an apple off from another branch.

 

“You see Kohaku?” Tani asked before she bit into it with a lot of enthusiasm, proud of herself, “it was hard to get them, but I got it!”

 

Kohaku nodded, “well done,”

 

Tani smiled as she then redirected her attention on her food, opened her mouth and took a bit huge bite out of the red apple. “Mmm… I haven't eaten these in so long that I've almost forgotten what they taste like!” She chewed, swallowed her food and then looked over at Kohaku who was just staring at her. Tani frowned as she took another bite of her apple and then swallowed hard. “Why does he keep staring at me? It's making me feel uncomfortable…” she then shook off the thought as her frown softened, “Do you… want to eat?”

 

Kohaku snapped himself back to reality when he heard Tani's voice as he shook off the thought, “Wh-what was that?”

 

“An apple,” Tani replied, “do you want one? The apples that just fell are bruised, you should try one that are still hanging on the trees, they're really delicious.” She continued as she plucked one off from the tree and tossed it to Kohaku.

 

Kohaku was caught the apple with ease as he looked at it.

 

Tani smiled as she decided to gather some more apples and tried to put them in her kimono, “I'll join you,” she insisted as she collected more until she believed she had more than enough to even carry.

 

Kohaku seemed worried about what Tani was about to do, “A-are you sure that you can get down safely with all those apples?” he asked.

 

“Mhm… I can come down-ah!” Tani slipped and grabbed on to the branch and pulled herself back up again and then looked down at Kohaku, she blushed, “um… maybe I can't,”

 

“Don't move,” Kohaku instructed as he jumped up to the tree and grabbed a hold of Tani and jumped back down.

 

Tani was flabbergasted on how Kohaku handled that so quickly. It took her minutes to climb up the tree and grab an apple when it simply took Kohaku only mere seconds to jump up, grab Tani and get back down.

 

“That was fast…” Tani said in awe, “Are you some sort of ninja?”

 

“No, I'm not a ninja…” Kohaku replied.

 

“Oh, then what are you? That is some remarkable skill.” Tani said.

 

Kohaku didn't respond right away as he turned another direction and walked up, “…I-I… I don't remember…”

 

The young girl tilted her head with concern, “What do you mean?” she asked, curious to learn more about this boy who was ordered by Naraku to look after her.

 

Then her stomach suddenly growled again. Tani blushed as she frowned, growing irritated of how her stomach kept growling so loudly that practically the whole neighborhood could hear it.

 

Kohaku turned to Tani, “never mind that, you haven't eaten in a while, so let's eat to recuperate your strength, master Naraku wouldn't be pleased to hear that you starved yourself to death.”

 

“I guess you're right…” Tani said defeated, she really wanted to get to know Kohaku more, she wanted to know his past, he seemed like such a peculiar character.

 

-----

 

Meanwhile, Kagome had looked down the `Bone Eaters Well' that transported her back to her own time era.

 

After Myoga had and the rest of the gang had their discussion about Tani and how to get her away from Naraku, Kagome along with the rest of the group had returned back to Kaede's village- the village where it had all began.

 

“Okay,” she decided. Kagome looked down at the well one last time and sighed, “I feel kinda bad going back to my own world after everything that's happened so far…” she thought as she looked around to see if there were going to be any witnesses of her departure back to her own world. She then held onto her injured arm, “But still… it's kinda been a while since I've been home…”

 

“Are you leaving us again?” Kagome heard a young familiar fox-demon speak.

 

Kagome turned to see Shippo with Kirara by his side. She then gave them a sympathetic look, “yes, I need to go back,”

 

“Aw,” went the fox demon, “so soon Kagome?” he asked with sadness in his eyes.

 

Kagome couldn't help but smile at Shippo; he really did like having Kagome around. Kagome nodded, “yes Shippo,” she replied, “but don't worry, I'll be back I know my priorities here in this era so I will come back don't you worry.”

 

“Oh… okay…” Shippo replied with a relented sigh, “but remember, you said that you will be back real soon.” He reminded.

 

Kagome smiled and nodded, “that means a lot to me Shippo.” She took one step on the side of the well and then another. She looked at Shippo and Kirara one last time and then jumped into the well, back to where she came from.

 

Shippo watched her go as he saw the sky blue glow, signaling that Kagome was back in her own world. He then ran up and jumped onto the well and looked down on it. It was official that Kagome went back to her home.

 

The little fox demon sighed once more he turned and looked a Kirara, “Well Kirara, I hope you know what that means,” he began, “InuYasha isn't going to be happy to hear about this…”

 

----

 

“I see…” Kaede replied after hearing the whole story about what had happen to the half demon child, “so now this young half demon child is with Naraku now?”

 

“Yes, I'm afraid so,” Miroku replied.

 

Miroku and InuYasha were in Kaede's hut explaining that had happened so far up until now. Bit by bit, Miroku had given Kaede every single detail on what was going on including the fact that Naraku had manipulated Tani into believing that Kikyo was the culprit of her mother's death.

 

“And you say that now that this Tani child is seeking my sister, Kikyo's life?” Kaede asked.

 

Miroku nodded sadly as he turned his gaze to InuYasha.

 

InuYasha nodded in agreement with Miroku's nod, “now I'm led to believe that Tani may wish to seek Kagome's life as well. We don't know where Naraku's hiding but we will eventually find him and hunt him down.”

 

Kaede stared at InuYasha.

 

InuYasha felt Kaede's stare, “what?”

 

“InuYasha, ye must be careful of Naraku… from what I've heard of this story, ye must be very careful of what Naraku is capable doing. He now has someone who almost ye equal…”

 

InuYasha raised an eyebrow out of confusion, just what was this old woman talking about? “What do you mean my equal, Kaede? Don't tell me that you're talking about that kid…”

 

“I am,” The wise old priestess confirmed.

 

“Just what makes her my equal?” InuYasha asked.

 

“I think I know what you mean Kaede…” Miroku said as he began to understand to what Kaede was talking about.

 

The hanyou was slowly beginning to grow impatient, “will someone please explain to me what you are babbling about?”

 

“InuYasha,” Miroku began, “as you may already know… Tani is a half demon. Born of a human mother and born of a demon father…”

 

InuYasha who was sitting crossed legged place both hands on both knees; “yeah since I'm a half demon myself, I kinda already know how that works…” he said more impatiently, “tell my something I don't know Miroku…”

 

“Indeed, because of this you are both able to become human at a certain period. You, InuYasha, turn into a human on the night of the new moon. With Tani, she becomes a human on the night of the full moon. Another similarity,” Miroku continued, “you both become demons, beasts if you will when you are most vulnerable. And since you somehow give her your sympathy since you've been through the same thing as her.”

 

“Are you trying to tell me that those factors are what makes Tani my equal? She's a kid!” InuYasha spat.

 

“Perhaps but when she faced you in battle she had the Shikon jewel in her possession.” Miroku stated.

 

“He is right InuYasha, because of that Naraku will take advantage of that,” Kaede said.

 

“Like I said before, tell me something I don't know…” InuYasha said as he got up from where he sat and headed his way out the hut.

 

Miroku and Kaede had both watched InuYasha make his way out the hut.

 

“InuYasha,” Kaede called, “where are ye going?”

 

“I'm going to get some fresh air,” he replied as he snuffed to himself, “…pft, my equal… my butt…” he muttered to himself.

 

Miroku just simply shook his head at the stubborn hanyou, “that InuYasha…” he began, “he doesn't approve of our theory, Kaede…”

 

“Aye,” Kaede agreed, “because this Tani is a child and a girl…”

 

“He ignores the similarities…” Miroku finished as he sighed and got up where too sat. He began to make his way out the door and turned Kaede, “I'm going to go out too Lady Kaede.”

 

“Aye,” Kaede replied with a nod.

 

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“WHAT?!?!?”

 

The voice was so loud that it echoed through out the forest and the birds began to fly about with fright.

 

“She went back home?! At a time like this?! What was she thinking?!” InuYasha yelled in disbelief at Shippo.

 

Shippo had covered his ears and shut his eye from InuYasha's screams. Once Shippo was sure that it was safe he slowly removed his hands from his ears and opened one eye, “Jeez InuYasha!” He complained. “You don't have to yell! I'm still a growing boy! I don't wanna go deaf by the time I'm a man you know… my poor sensitive ears…” he whimpered.

 

InuYasha simply growled in response ignoring to what Shippo has just said, “Kagome went back to her own time world?”

 

“Hey!” Shippo said defensively, “there is no need to attack the messenger, if I had the power to go back to her time and get her, believe me, I would! Besides, she's going to come back.”

 

“Huh, you could've stopped her! Now I have to go in after her!”

 

Shippo just crossed his arms, “honestly InuYasha you can be such a pest.”

 

With that comment, Shippo had then at that moment received a lump to his head from InuYasha's fist.

 

InuYasha brought out his fist again, “you were saying.”

 

Shippo growled at InuYasha as Kirara jumped onto his shoulder and mewed, “InuYasha you jerk!”

 

“Huh,” InuYasha simply turned as head his way to the well as he looked down it and then turned to Shippo and Kirara, “I'm going down after her.”

 

“Wait InuYasha!” Shippo said as he ran up to the well.

 

And with that, InuYasha was already down the well, to Kagome's time era.

 

Shippo with Kirara on his shoulder had ran up to the well and looked down on it as he did earlier when Kagome had left and then sighed and looked at Kirara.

 

“See Kirara? What did I tell you, that stubborn dolt InuYasha, wasn't happy to hear about Kagome's departure to her own world…” he said resting his head on his hands.

 

Kirara simply mewed.

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End Chapter