InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Price of Vengeance ❯ Chapter Forty-Three: Northerners ( Chapter 44 )

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Rumiko Takahashi's characters or stories. This story is for private entertainment purposes only.

A/N: Sorry for the wait. I know you are anxious for SesshouMaru's appearance, and I could not fit him in to the story before certain scenes were done, plus the Taiyoukai likes to make an appearance when HE deems its necessity, and not this poor author. Sigh. Even Fate has to keep the threads aligned...(smacks self...need coffee). After wracking my brain day and night, I finally decided to just post, and keep the pace of updating chapters going. Sess will be coming for Kagome, and within the next week...promise!

WARNING: Some dark imagery brought to you by Naraku.

Chapter Forty-Three (Northerners)

A lonely wind howled over the grassy hill.

*Diverting.*

He always liked creating an entrance, even if he was the only one to see it.

Embroiling clouds darkened the evening stretch of sky, touching the last rays of the sun's departure with sharp streaks of red the color of deepening blood. Faint rumbles on the howling wind spoke of the impending storm that would crash through the night.

Claws clutched at the length of white fur that cloaked him in obscurity. The wind would have tried to snap it from him, but he was stronger than the wind.

He had even used the wind to create his own daughter...

Claws curled into talons with the thought. He didn't like the unforeseen turn of events that youkai's life had taken.

*Wind Sorceress Kagura...daughter...you should have died by that wolf's hand.*

He was still furiously trying to piece together WHY that had not happened. Silent Kanna, with her deadened eyes and far-seeing mirror, had not been able to unravel the mystery. He didn't like it at all.

But he was not here for that.

He was here for his son...

Fangs flashed in a dark grin, and his eyes glowed behind the mocking face of the white baboon with an evil red light, matching the angry aura that sheathed the abandoned sword.

He had so wished the hanyou had been here, alone, waiting for him. It would have been delightful to have played a bit with him before killing him...

But InuYasha had been summoned elsewhere, he didn't know why, and that infuriated him, too.

His fury added deeper velvet to the dark voice that called to the evil sword he had had created from Goshinki's living head...

"Toukijin...I am here for you, my son..."

The aura reddened in anger, glaring its hate.

Naraku smiled.

*~*~*~*~*

"Mew."

"I can tell which bed is hers, damn it. It has her stupid blue cloth on it, doesn't it?" InuYasha growled irritably at the transformed kitten, who flicked her twin tails at him in disdain and mewed again, one small black paw touching the piled blankets at the foot of Sango's futon.

The taijiya was light in his arms, but still it was awkward falling to one knee and shifting her weight around so that he wouldn't jar her too much. Sango's face was drained of color, and he didn't like how shallow her breathing was. There was a growing stain on the front of her torn black armor, and she hadn't awoken once since she had fallen over Kirara outside the village.

Settling the taijiya carefully down on the mattress, he muttered under his breath as the long black tangle of her hair caught on his claws. Picking it off, he was careful not to pull any strands out by jerking his fingers free. Her silky black hair spilled in a fan across one side of the mattress, and he sat back on his haunches, staring at her.

*Now what?*

He wished Kagome or Kaede were there. THEY were the healers. Even Miroku knew more than he did about frail human bodies...especially women's bodies.

"Merew." Kirara batted at a bucket of water, the stilled reflection of a burning oil-lamp shattered into disturbed ripples by the motion.

Water.

Amber eyes lightened, and he leapt into action, grateful the neko, at least, knew what it was doing.

Boiling water. That always helped. At least he could clean Sango's wound with it.

He dumped the whole bucket into the iron cauldron that already hung over the dampened fire. Fire. That was another thing he needed. To boil the water and to heat this dilapidated shack up. That's what Kaede always did when somebody came looking for her skills as a miko healer. Light a fire and boil water...

Thankfully, there was some wood already chopped up by the side of the hut. Actually, it was some torn bits from the broken skeletons of houses that had dotted the village and now stood lonely testament to the emptiness of this place. Hefting up quite a load, he dumped most of it just outside the bamboo-screened doorway and took the rest back inside with him.

Feeding fuel to it, he had a roaring fire in no time. Kirara was more than helpful, taking up a long reed and using it to light additional lanterns. Not that (with his inu-aided blood) he couldn't see well in the dark, but it helped. The water was boiling in moments, and he wondered what to do next.

A black paw batted at a stack of torn cloths kept on a shelf. The lot fell over, some spilling onto the floor.

"Hey!" InuYasha scowled. There was no need to make the place all messy, damn it. Then it hit him.

Cloths to clean Sango's wound out.

Grasping up the loose pile, he grunted a thanks to the helpful kitten, who fluttered her red eyes at him and flicked her tails, jumping down to go nuzzle the slayer and purr loudly.

InuYasha swung the decorative fish that was used as a hook above the fire-pit over to him, and tossed the cloths in. Kirara rumbled at him before he dumped ALL of them in, and he scowled at the innocent neko.

"I'm trying my best, damn it."

Kirara blinked, and pawed Sango's black armor.

InuYasha froze.

*I can't UNDRESS her!*

"You're going to have to do it." He said, amber eyes wide with shock.

Kirara wrinkled her nose and growled at him.

"I can't---" He held up his hands in protest.

"Mewr." Kirara batted Sango's black arm impatiently, red eyes glowing.

*Damn it, anyway.*

*~*~*~*~*

It had been Ginta's unlucky fate to be stuck here, keeping an eye on that overbearing wolf Katashi. Hakkaku had left him to sit on a rock and make sure those stupid wolves were not wandering over everything, sniffing around and looking superior.

*Ugly brutes.* He eyed the nearest northerner with a smirk. The old northern tribe had been decimated by Naraku, leaving a smaller clan to take its place, and it was hardly an improvement. Most of the wolf-brothers were scarred up and smelly---he wrinkled his nose at the closest four-legged one, who was a mousy grey with a black stripe running down its back. The wolf actually lolled its tongue back at him, and Ginta glared at it.

One of his own furry companions, a nice handsome red one---a much better color than mousy grey if he thought so himself---gave the intruder a wide grin full of sharp teeth, and his brown one with the creamy face actually growled low in the back of his throat.

The grey furball merely stuck its snout in the air and scratched at a biting flea with its hind-leg.

Kami, he hated northern wolves.

There was a low noise of appreciation from right in back of him, and Ginta nearly fell off his rock with surprise---he hadn't realized Katashi had gotten so close behind him, the arrogant dog.

There was a loud, raucous laugh from the northern leader, who grasped his arm with not-so-gentle claws, and helped him to stand on wobbly legs before letting him go. "You should be better prepared than that, cub!" Katashi said in his booming loud voice that just grated on Ginta's nerves. "Next one to sneak up on you could kill ya."

Narrowing his eyes, Ginta bristled.

Katashi thumped him on the back, nearly knocking him over with the strength of it.

"Ha! You're a funny one, Gina!"

*GINA?!*

"My name's Ginta." He growled. He wasn't a girl!

"Sure. Whatever." Katashi shrugged.

Kami, he hated northern wolf-brothers.

Katashi was not much older than Koga, and he was one ugly brute, in Ginta's sour opinion. Bushy black spikes were held off of his forehead by a furry band that should have been silver-grey if it hadn't been so dusty, and the same went for the black armor, banded with silver fur, that he wore. The only thing the odious ookami youkai kept clean---and sharp, as he half-joked with Ginta---was his katana. He might have bulging muscles enough, though that didn't impress Ginta much---but he had dirt under his claws, which was just flat-out disgusting.

Well, if he was honest, Ginta used to have dirty claws too---he hadn't really thought much about it, until he noticed how carefully Lady Kagura cleaned HERS, and he---and most of the eastern ookami tribe---had quickly followed suit. Now he couldn't keep the wrinkle off his nose at the wolfy stench of the powerful northern youkai.

Of course, all northern wolves stunk---that was a given. But Katashi was more-he was delighted with his own inner joke---overbearing---smirk---than his colleagues.

A heavy fist struck him playfully on the shoulder and Ginta nearly fell over with the impact. Katashi laughed again, and said he needed more strength.

Ginta wanted to strangle him.

"Tell you what, Gina. You tell me who that nice piece of eye-candy is, and I'll take some time off to show you some REAL moves." Katashi grinned toothily.

Ginta blinked. *Eye-candy?*

There was only one "piece" who might be considered sweet on the eyes...

Damn. That stupid wolf had spotted Kagura.

Ginta's eyes narrowed, and he was really growling now. Except Katashi was ignoring him to bound up on his abandoned sitting-rock, trying to show off the play of his braced muscles (the posturing mutt) and grinning at the "piece of eye-candy", who had no notion she was the object of wolfish scrutiny.

Kagura was far enough away to not have realized that the caverns were now crowded with northern filth---she was out by the forest edge, returning with old Hideki from a herb-gathering expedition. Dozens of wolves, red and brown and creamy clean like good wolves should be---were jumping and milling around the odd pair. Wherever the wind youkai went, gobs of four-legged brothers followed. They had a particular fascination with her, especially over the last few days. They always acted the clown, rolling on their backs and playing around her to make her smile---of course, most of the youkai wolf-brothers tried to do the same. Those rare, soft smiles were prizes sought out like badges of honor among competing ookami---much to Koga's seeming disgust.

Ginta's own eyes turned admiring as he watched the Lady carefully pick her way among milling wolves and tangling brush. She gingerly pushed a red wolf aside, fended off the audacious furball's pink swipe of a tongue, and pulled up something green with a practiced twist of her long fingers. Neatly scooping her prize into the basket she carried for Hideki, she paused a moment for the old healer to catch up with her and examine it. The old wolf grinned one-fanged at her, and she bent her head gracefully next to his, the long black tresses that curled over her shoulders and down her back playfully tossed by a caressing wind, the red rubies of her eyes intense as she focused on the healer.

Wow, she was mesmerizing...

His concentration was broken by Katashi's loud whistle of appreciation.

Ginta growled with sudden menace, hating that possessive gleam in Katashi's yellow eyes. His BULGING, OGLING yellow eyes---the overbearing clod. How DARE he---

Kagura's head had shot up at the piercing noise, and her wide red eyes narrowed on them. Hideki, too, had stiffened at the sound, and he didn't look too happy to see the grey-furred clan from the north.

Ginta wanted to grin with delight suddenly. Kagura's look of withering scorn was a wonderful sight to behold, a work of art really. Her gaze could be as cold as ice when she wanted it to be, and he was giddy-happy when he realized that her coldest was arrowed on Katashi, who stood with his arms braced against his hips, oozing wolfy arrogance and smirking with personal vanity.

"She's a hot little piece, ain't she, Gina? That'd be something to warm your furs at night."

Kami, he hated northern wolves!

*~*~*~*~*

"Ignore them, girl." Hideki said drily.

Kagura turned her cold gaze to the old healer. Her red eyes softened a bit---that old wolf had been kind, in his way, to her---but she kept her head up. "He is not worth my notice." She said archly.

Hideki grinned, showing the cracked tooth that gave him his grumbled nickname among the wolf-brothers. "He wouldn't much like to hear that, girl."

Kagura arched a thin brow. Should she care?

"That's Katashi, if I know my wolves, and I do. If he's anything like his father, than he's an arrogant lout used to getting his own way."

"And this concerns me how?" Kagura raised her other brow.

Hideki's grin couldn't get any wider if he tried. The kaze youkai was a rare one, and strong enough to keep her own in a wolf pack.

Deliberately turning her back on the "arrogant lout", Kagura made a sharp cutting motion with her free hand at the assembled ookami who crowded her path. Immediately, the wolves wuffed and scrambled out of her way, clearing a path from before her.

She sure knew how to handle the mangy mutts, Hideki thought with admiration. She had them all trained to her slightest hand signal, and the lazy louts adored her.

Funny how they had all taken to hanging around her every minute of every day. She had moved into her own small cave, and what furry bodies couldn't fit in there at night when she slept were lumped outside by the dozens, snarling and snapping at each other to get closer---

That thought had him freeze in mid-step, and he brought his forgotten foot down on one lazy lout's tail. The wolf yelped and jumped out of the way, but Hideki paid it no mind.

*Damn.*

If he thought about it, it all fitted nicely together. The wolves following her around like puppies after their mother, the wolf-brothers arguing among themselves for one of her rare smiles, the constant watch the furballs took up outside her cave...

If he was correct, than the wolves---and wolf-brothers---would be taking much more of an interest in her, and very soon.

*What great timing for the northern clan to have come visiting.*

He actually surprised himself by growling slightly, possessively.

Hell, he wasn't that old that he didn't remember well what a Gathering meant.

*Damn.*

He eyed the wind youkai askance. She was blithely unaware of his attention---or the attentions of the others.

That poor girl was in for a shock.

*~*~*~*~*

His sleep was restless; he did not know why.

*She calls me...*

Ridiculous. It had been a dream, but a dream.

Still, he did not understand this summoning that plagued him at odd times, withdrawing his attention from his surroundings and snaring it up. The inu within him, his youkai nature, was restless and angry, wanting, desiring something that he did not wish to name.

*Miko.*

She was a witch that would consume his mind. He needed to understand more. What was it that made her so valuable to him, made it vital enough that he would seek her out in his subconscious, desiring her presence?

He had spoken with Bokusenou, who had revealed much but not enough. He needed to know more, much more, and, perhaps, he would not find it in the land of his birth...