InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Presence of Autumn ❯ Inuyasha's Kind ( Chapter 3 )

*sniffles* You mean it's… n-not mine? *cries* But I want it!! Waaahhhhhhh!!! I want it!

Chapter 3: Inuyasha's Kind

They left the village about an hour after dawn. Miroku was lucky; apparently Ateda was a late sleeper, and they managed to leave the village long before she woke up. Once they were out of the village on foot, they stopped and mounted up as they had the previous day.

After about an hour of traveling Inuyasha felt Kagome's muscles clench against his back. "I sense another one! Turn south! They're both there!"

Inuyasha switched directions to follow what Kagome had indicated. He was still following that scent.

When they reached the next sight the victim was still dying. He was a moth demon; his wings were in tatters and there was a large hole in his chest from which his life's blood was flowing freely. Kagome quickly scanned his failing body but found that the shard had been removed. With pity on her face she moved back to let Inuyasha speak with him.

"Who did this to you?" Inuyasha asked.

The moth demon's lips peeled back to reveal sharp fangs coated in his own blood. He began to laugh darkly, but it quickly subsided into a bubbling cough. "You ask this of me, hanyou? How dare you, filth!" More coughing. "One of your kind killed me and stole my shard." He spat the word `kind' like a curse and coughed again weakly. "I hope - hope…"

With a long bubbling sigh his life fled him.

Inuyasha cursed at length.

"One of your `kind'?" Sango murmured. "What do you suppose he meant by that?"

"Perhaps that it was a hanyou, like Inuyasha." Miroku suggested, moving to stand next to Sango. His hand began to drift in the direction of her rear, but she promptly slapped it away and retreated to the other side of Kirara who growled at him warningly.

"Or maybe that it was an inu-youkai." Kagome said.

Inuyasha snorted. "There aren't that many of us. There are actually very few, maybe only a dozen."

"Why is that?" Sango asked.

"Inu-youkai mate for life, and only bear one pup at a time." Myouga piped up.

"Where have you been hiding, you little coward?" Inuyasha smacked his retainer flat where he'd perched on his lord's shoulder.

"My Lord, I have not been hiding." Myouga defended himself after he recovered from his squashing. "I have been resting, conserving my skills for the day I must bring them to bear."

"What skills? Your ability to run from danger faster than someone a hundred times your size?" Inuyasha grumbled.

"My Lord, that's not fair! I-" Myouga began but Kagome cut him off.

"I can sense it again!" She exclaimed. She concentrated her thoughts on the energy that she could sometimes feel coming from the crystal. She felt it, not far to the east again. However she realized that either this shard was far bigger or there were several of them in one spot. She guessed that there was probably about one tenth of the jewel gathered into that one spot. That was a significant portion. "It's to the east again. Not far, and it's a big piece."

"How big?" Inuyasha asked as the others scrambled to collect themselves and mount up on Kirara's back.

"I'd say about a tenth of the whole jewel."

Inuyasha didn't waste any time. They were off again and traveling as fast as Inuyasha and Kirara could run. It had ceased to surprise him now, but that intoxicating aroma still filled the air. He was now nearly certain that it belonged to the demon they were chasing down.

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Short chapter this time, so I thought I'd post two simultaneously. Please review, it gives me warm fuzzies!