InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Snare ❯ Chapter 11 ( Chapter 11 )

Chapter 11

The shutter slid back open with a clack and Inuyasha lost no time in bringing his body into the casement on a smooth roll, knocking a startled Kagome aside. He came up drawing Tetsusaiga but the blade remained untransformed in his still daemon hand. Nevertheless, he let the sword swing him around as if on a pivot pointing him towards the greatest threat.

What he found at the end of his sword didn’t even respond to his presence. Its head, swathed in black hair, continued to droop down to the table at which it sat. Inuyasha could hear Kagome scrambling to her feet and gave a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure that she was all right.

She looked a little confused and was tugging at the scarf she had hung about her neck in a vain attempt to preserve her modesty even as she reached to pick up a pair of water buckets.

Inuyasha was staring at her, nonplussed, when the creature before him shifted, “Water,” it croaked without lifting its head. “Bring me water.”

“Hai,” chirped Kagome and startled Inuyasha considerably by trotting straight past him and on out through the door.

“Oi!“ he called after her but she ignored him. Keeping the point of his sword angled towards the creature slouching at the table, he swiveled his body to follow the girl’s progress across the ashen ground. She went straight to the shallow pit he had noted on his way in and drew the buckets through the dust, filling each to the brim with the feathery stuff.

The slender muscles of her arms knotted and she gave a grunt as she lifted the buckets, obviously balancing a heavy weight against her own. Jaki was present in those buckets when they were drawn up, jaki that faded quickly away to the smell of pure ocean in Kagome‘s purifying grasp. He watched in fascination as she returned, buckets sloshing carelessly from side to side. It certainly seemed like water when it splashed out and the dark twisting growth changed its nature wherever the water hit. Within moments, a thick stock shot up out of the bare twigs of the black undergrowth paling into a round white head which looked a bit like a skull.

Inuyasha thought so anyway and, if so, then the analogy was carried a bit further as each stock burst into a fleshy bloom, complete with pink lips. He turned away and watched Kagome as she climbed back into the cottage. She excused herself as she sought to pass and he automatically stepped aside. She then made her way across the crowded floor space and liberally dowsed the creature at the table. It gave an ecstatic moan and sat up for a moment, lifting a head upon which the features seemed to be melting.

“Ah, my vitality returns.” Its voice was thick and gluey and there was a faint acidic smell in the air. It moved its hands, pressing against the table top. “But the water, it burns! I cannot see! What are you doing to the water, girl?”

“Bringing it to you just as you asked, Grandmother.” Kagome’s smile was vacant. “Shall I do the dusting now?”

“No I…”

Inuyasha cut in, “What the Hell is going on here? Kagome, get away from that thing, don’t you see me?” He set his hand on her shoulder and she looked at him as if she’d never met him before. A swift pang ran through his heart.

The dripping mass at the table came waveringly upright. “Who’s there? Damn, my eyes, I can’t see. What have you done to me, brat?“ The bloated face turned blindly, “Who are you? Intruder, get away from here!”

Kagome blinked vaguely up at Inuyasha and smiled as she spoke, “It’s the doctor, Grandmother. You know you need one because you’re sick.”

“What the hell? Kagome, wake up!”

“GAH!” The creature spat a thick glob of goo in their general direction and it hit the wall with a splat.

“Do that again and I’ll obliterate you.” Inuyasha snarled. “What have you done to Kagome? Release her!”

“What have I done to her? Look what she’s done to me! I think she’s poisoned the well somehow, evil wench.”

Inuyasha tightened his grip on Kagome’s shoulder. She seemed inclined to start doing housework and kept trying to wander towards the broom that stood in cobwebby splendor in one corner.

“Evil yourself,” he grunted. “Can’t you see that she’s purifying the jaki of that…” he took a heavy sniff and sneezed a bit at the acidic smell underpinned by notes of saline, “ocean water she’s been drawing for you? What the hell do you want with ocean water anyway? In case you didn’t know, the ocean is a few miles off.” He cautiously kept the Tetsusaiga leveled at that youkai‘s breast.

With a bubbling sigh the ocean youkai resumed its seat. “It was an accident. I never meant to be here. But a girl has to eat, you know? There was a tsunami and I was swept up in a tidal wave into the temple’s forecourt. The youkai who originally had residence here was very old and quiet and didn’t mind if I was nearby. There was enough to eat,” It made a smacking sound with its lips, and Inuyasha firmed his stance and frowned. “enough to eat indeed, as the temple was abandoned. The bonzes had no money and didn’t stay around here once the temple buildings were gone on the backwash of the great wave.

“Things were peaceful for a time with good pickings but then all that trouble started. Youkai were being swept up right and left, but being an ocean youkai myself, I clung to the rocks around here like a limpet.”

“So, what happened to the old youkai?”

“I hear tell that he was eaten by that foul fiend, that tainted hanyou, Inuyasha.”

Inuyasha’s face bloomed red and his jaw dropped open on an inhalation ready to bark out a furious denial. Kagome twitched aside from his fingertips and went humming to the corner to retrieve the broom. His claw snagged momentarily on the scarf she was wearing and pulled it askew, but she didn’t notice. His eyes flickered over at the human girl uncertainly as the monster slouched at the table grunted it’s misery.

“What makes you think that the one who caused all this trouble was a hanyou?” He asked, returning his attention to the subject.

“It was a powerful hanyou that pulled the old temple youkai out of this den, that’s certain. It must have been that foul hanyou, Inuyasha. That’s what I heard.”

“It was a hanyou, but the hanyou’s name was Naraku.”

“Never heard of him. It was the hanyou, Inuyasha, killing swaths and armies of fighting youkai. Sucking their lives and subverting their sacred power to his purposes.”

“That isn’t right!”

“The only ones who survived came back wounded terribly, and spoke of the terrible Inuyasha, dressed in robes of crimson fire rat, and slaughtering indiscriminately along with a great many insults!”

Inuyasha was taken aback. “That isn’t so, you’ve got it wrong! It was somebody else.”

“Oh? Then why have I never heard of anyone else?”

“Because they didn’t survive to tell the tale! That’s why!”

“Likely story.”

“It’s true damn it!”

“How would you know, youngster? I myself took over this spot of safety when the temple youkai was wrenched from this plane of existence and impressed into durance vile in the nether world. What could you know of it?!”

“Cannot you understand it, yet? I am that other hanyou, I fought Naraku, and he has been destroyed. But all the other lives were lost with him.”

The creature gave a wet sniff. “You are not a hanyou, you are a youkai and attempting to take over my refuge!”

“I…” he began hotly and clenched his hands. His claws prickled a bit, causing him to look down at them. Oh yes, he could see the traces of youki wreathed about his fists, tracing in and out of his fingertips. “Oh yeah. I forgot. I’m not really--” at this point Kagome stepped into his line of vision quietly sweeping the floor, her scarf rucked up over one shoulder and exposing her breasts without her taking any notice.

Inuyasha inhaled. “Yeah, I’m not a hanyou…I’m a full youkai! Die, you lying mother fucker!” And with that he lunged forward his left hand grasping for the other youkai’s neck. Before he could complete the lunge, a sudden blow from a heavy weight struck him on the back of the head and knocked him off balance.

He spun in place almost casually only to bring himself into a full stop, his sword within a breath of resting against the side of an oblivious Kagome’s throat. She was winding up for another swing with the well bucket. He gasped in dismay and was rotating away from her, bringing the sword in line to accomplish a cut against the daemon across the table from him when a blob of the daemon’s goo hit him square in the chest and knocked him hard against Kagome’s body.

The force of the blow drove both his arms back and he found himself effectively bound to the wall by his shoulders and wrists. A good jerk wasn’t sufficient to release him on the first try and he gave vent to a surprised growl as he tested the strength of the stuff that held him. It gave in an irritatingly elastic manner and snapped his wrists right back to where they had been before.

The bucket in Kagome’s hand swung against his head again and smacked him in the ear, stinging it badly. She was pinned to the wall by his left arm, thankfully shielded from the swiftly-hardening slime by the hanging sleeve of his suikan, but she still had use of her hands and a grip on the bucket. She whacked his ear again.

“Damn it!”

There was the sound of a nasty laugh from across the table. Inuyasha looked to see the hag dragging herself to her feet to shuffle along the table guided by her hands running along the edge of it. “You weren’t expecting that were you, my fine young fellow? Not many youkai can fight against the power of my cement. Now let’s have a look at you. My eyes may be weak but my glance still has power in it and if I send my glare against that pretty little girl of yours, it will be the death of her. All I need to do is come close.”

The creature lifted its head and opened its unnaturally large eyes. They glowed with the opalescent blue-green of a horse fly’s myriad optics. The strange beauty of them was made all the more horrible by the travesty of the creature’s ruined face.

With a grunt, Inuyasha wrenched his right arm free, ripping the magically tough fabric of the fire rat suikan in the process and leaving both it and the right sleeve of his kosode behind on the wall. He braced himself for a moment’s desperate concentration, jamming his left elbow back against Kagome’s face to prevent further attack from that quarter.

The creature had drawn near but it paused just out of reach of the old katana. It tilted its head at an almost coquettish angle and lifted a hand, one long clawed fingertip to rest on the tip of Tetsusaiga.

“You think to skewer me with that, boy? Your aura shows you should be able to handle better than that. They really short-changed you at the junkshop didn’t they? No matter, it will all come out the same in the end. Old Gyofu has been in this business a long time.” The creature widened its eyes and opened its mouth revealing its transparent glistening fangs. “Hold still,” it slurred, “this won’t hurt…much.”

It took another step and stopped, four and a half feet of glowing steel transfixing what should have been its heart.

Inuyasha smiled unpleasantly, “Why you are right, Grandmother, I don’t feel a thing.”

A choked whisper reached his ears, “The hanyou, Inuyasha.” The light was already fading from the sea hag’s eyes but it was close enough now to see the red of the fire rat and perceive the unmistakable aura of a hanyou. How had she been deceived?

“User of depraved magic.”

He leaned forward a bit, “I didn’t do it!”

Silence from the dying youkai on his blade, then, “Murderer and devourer of youkai.“ It wheezed, searching for breath. “Are you out to kill us all?”

With a flare, the power of the sword responded to his will and blasted both the sea hag and the backside of the hut into smithereens.

0000000000000000

It was mid afternoon and Miroku was sitting in meditative watch on the pavement underneath the Buddha when there was a disturbance in the air that caught his attention. An instant later, Inuyasha and Kagome made their appearance with the concern of a couple of truant children climbing out of a cupboard they have been hiding in, Inuyasha helping the girl down to floor level.

Inuyasha was shirtless and carried a large bundle of black twigs wrapped up in the remains of his suikan. Kagome wore his white kosode minus the right sleeve and tied tightly at the waist by a brightly colored scarf with long fringes. They were both covered in a generous amount of grayish dust. With a final, faint, pop the portal closed behind them.

Miroku relaxed and let the hand holding the sealing ofuda drop, clearly it wasn’t needed. “So, you are here,” he said by way of greeting. “We weren’t sure when you would be back and have set up camp for the night.”

Kagome blushed and pushed a hank of dusty hair behind her ear. “Were we gone that long? I lost track.”

Inuyasha grunted and brushed past Miroku on his way out slinging his bundle over his shoulder. With a quick hop he was up the ruined steps and out the door.

“That’s very nice of you, Inuyasha, but we don’t need any more “firewood,” Miroku called out after him. “We found plenty in the forest.”

“I don’t think he intends to burn them,” Kagome said quietly.

Miroku turned to her and shrugged with a smile, “Perhaps not. A memento of your travels?”

“In a way. Is there, “ with a gesture of her hand she indicated her dusty state.

Miroku nodded instantly. “Indeed, how remiss of me. There is a nice stream just on the other side of the hill and Sango has your clothes waiting.”

Kagome made for the exit, finding that she had been cured for life of any interest in spending time inside the Great Buddha.

The others had been busy while they were gone and a cozy little camp awaited them in the lee of the statue, groundsheets now strung up protecting the fire from the wind over the headland and one of Kagome’s battery-powered lamps hanging up above illuminating the area. The sun was setting in a blaze of red glory and Kagome frowned to see how long she had spent under the sea hag’s spell. What if Inuyasha hadn’t been able to get in?

The subject of her thoughts knelt near the fire with his suikan spread on the cracked pavement before him. On it, he was lining up twigs in some order of his own while Kohaku and Shippou watched intently. His dust streaked arms, muscles sliding smoothly underneath the skin, stretched out, drew back and stretched out again as he placed the small bundles of black in a wide circle about the red, leaving one alone in the center.

Without raising his head to look at her, he lifted one hand and gestured her over with clawed fingertips. “Kagome, do you know where the tomb of the founder of this place is?”

Kagome looked surprised, hesitated and then smiled, “Lady Inada, of course, I found her cenotaph among the kudzu vines just this morning. It’s over there.” She pointed towards the front of the statue where the forest had found a purchase on the broken pavement and the vines draped the lower branches of the trees, encouraged by the sun.

He nodded and gathered up the small central bundle of twigs and made his way, trailed by the rest to where the vines draped thickest. There Kagome pulled them aside to reveal the solitary basalt pillar with its dedicatory inscription hidden within them. Inuyasha stepped past her and then swept then kudzu vines away with one impatient pull, bringing them down in a pile to the pavement. He knelt and thrust the end of his bundle of black twigs down into a space between the paving stones at his feet, leaving them to stand up like some beheaded bouquet. He was still a moment and then rose to confront his audience.

“Right,” he said. “Do you two get it?”

The boys nodded solemnly while the adults in the group looked on in confusion.

“All the way a-round, right?” Kohaku asked and at Inuyasha’s nod they trotted back to the fire and gathered carefully opposed bundles of twigs from the perimeter of Inuyasha’s circle and then retuned to stand back to back with the original bundle standing up between. Inuyasha looked at them critically and nodded to let them go and Kohaku and Shippou trotted off in a bee-line in completely opposite directions.

Kagome stared after Shippou, chewing her lip, remembering their final circuitous route back out to Inuyasha’s entry point. That path had been circular and Inuyasha had paused to gather small bundles of twigs at intervals. Perhaps he hadn’t been searching for the way out after all.

“Are you trying to give that ashen forest a chance, Inuyasha?” she finally ventured.

“Just trying to give the kami of it a way to maybe find some rest, Kagome,” He replied. His arms were folded and his great mane of hair blew about him in the breeze, but the chill of the advancing darkness troubled him not at all. In fact, he looked pleased, “This will take awhile; why don’t you get cleaned up?”

Kagome looked down at herself ruefully, brushing at the ashen smuts off the suikan and heard Sango’s rich chuckle. Within a few moments Sango had her to the side of the bubbling natural well for a briskly chill scrub up and a change into fresh clothes. Kagome sponged at the kosode in a dubious manner and gave it up as a bad job. Inuyasha was going to have to deal with his wardrobe problems in his own way. She couldn’t help wondering just how far he was willing to let the others into his secrets.

She was destined to find out a little later as they sat around the fire, dunking small bits of miso-cured meat in a communal pot of broth. Inuyasha appeared out of the shadows fully attired in faultless crimson.

Miroku looked at him speculatively, “Nice clean-up job, Inuyasha.”

“Up yours, Bouzu.”

“Don’t you usually have to wait a night for your stuff to magically clean itself?”

“Shut-up. My clothes don’t magically repair themselves overnight. Since when were you so interested in my laundry?”

“Since you have become twice a full youkai before all out eyes without loosing yourself or having it forced on you, disappeared into and re-appeared out of thin air and have now walked into camp with perfectly repaired clothing.”

Shippou snorted, “That clothing isn’t repaired, it’s new.”

Sango’s voice spoke up from the other side of the fire while Kagome cringed. “How could that be? I always thought Inuyasha’s clothing was magically impervious and self-repairing.”

Inuyasha lifted his eyes over to where Kagome twiddled with her food instead of eating it. He kept his gaze upon her while he spoke. “My suikan no hakama is a magical suit. It is as strong as armor and impervious to acid and fire. It can be torn or dirtied though and when it is I go through to my home and put on a new suit, leaving the ruined one behind. Ask Kagome, she has seen my home.”

The three humans looked from one to the other; Inuyasha staring at Kagome and Kagome, red faced, staring at the ground.

Shippou’s eyes glittered green in the darkness at the edge of the fire’s glow. He had withdrawn from the group and was barely visible on the slope of the giant Buddha’s robes.

“So you’ve been using your sanctuary all along. I’m a full youkai and I can only access mine once or twice in my lifetime unless I become very ancient. How did you work that out? If my father had access to such a place he would never have died.”

Inuyasha pinched the bridge of his nose and searched for patience. As always it was thin on the ground. “Shippou, I don’t know about you, that’s up to your god, Inari. I could live in mine but I choose not to. This world here is a hell-a lot more interesting than a silent house. And until she accepted me and I her, I couldn’t have taken Kagome there either. I stayed with you people always, even on my human nights, because her safety was my responsibility.”

Miroku prodded at a poorly burning log with the end of his staff. “And the transformations? That’s definitely something new. It’s since Naraku was destroyed, isn’t it? I thought that Kagome-Sama purified him and that Sesshoumaru was there.”

Kagome spoke up, “The true final fragment was there as well. Sesshoumaru picked it up. But the fragment joined the stone and it was pure, having been purged In the destruction of Naraku. He said he didn’t care what it was and gave it to Inuyasha, telling him to keep out of the way.”

Inuyasha snorted, “I kept to my end but Sesshoumaru hasn’t kept out of mine. He lives in Kagome’s world now. He found his own way through.”

Kohaku spoke carefully, it was a painful subject for him after all. “Then, what about the jewel, did you use it?”

Inuyasha concentrated on tossing pebbles into the fire. “Yeah, I used it. I asked for the control of my blood.”

Miroku sighed softly, “Really. That is beneficial. Does Sesshoumaru know?”

Inuyasha gave a faint laugh. “Yeah, I ended up showing him.”

“Showing him what?” Sango wanted to know. Inuyasha didn’t speak but danger gathered about him like a mountain assumes a cloak of fog. Everyone edged away except for Kagome who flashed an apologetic glance at Sango before scooting herself closer to the former hanyou and taking his hand.

Inuyasha lifted his eyes and they glowed a feral red in the firelight, his cheeks were darkly striped with bands of purple. Then it faded, Inuyasha’s eyes shown molten amber, the cat-like slits of his pupils clearly visible. The pupils stayed the same but the eyes darkened to a tawny brown. The hair grayed to a starless black and his ears seemed to either fold themselves away or slide out of sight until those watching him found themselves staring at the same nearly human boy that they also knew as Inuyasha for all the moon was three quarters full and just lifting above the trees.

“Ah,” breathed a fascinated Miroku. “So that’s how it is. Very convenient.”

Inuyasha nodded and resumed his hanyou appearance to find Shippou at his elbow sniffing him. “Do you mind?”

“Yes I do. Yep, he changes his blood, no illusion. Not like I care.” The kitsune turned his back.

“Other youkai,” Inuyasha said the words reluctantly. “Are lying motherfuckers. But they usually remember things for a long time.”

“Yeah. So?” Shippou agreed. “You’re a liar too.”

Inuyasha shrugged. “Have you ever heard any other youkai talking about Naraku?”

The kitsune turned his head at that. “Huh? No. You know how hard we had to search for clues. Naraku was almost impossible to find.”

“Do you ever hear them mention me?”

“Do you think I would ever ask?”

“Well, start asking and pay attention to the answers.” He turned his attention. “Miroku, are you still intending to track down Mushin?”

Miroku shook his head. “I think I have changed my mind. I think I want an interview with the Emperor’s general Nabanuga.”

Kagome perked up at that. “Ooh, that would be so neat. I’ve always wanted to meet someone famous.” She faltered as everyone just stared at her. “Well, it would be neat,” she said defensively.

Sango patted her arm. “I’m sure he would be happy to meet you too.” The others switched their stares to her. “What?”

Inuyasha snorted and confined his remarks to Miroku. “Do you think you can get access to him?”

“I think it can be arranged, yes. He’s building a new castle some days north of here.”

“Good, head in that direction and I will catch you up. I think I have to ask Sesshoumaru a few questions and that means I need to go through the well. Kagome, are you coming or staying with them?”

She didn’t hesitate long. “There are definitely some things I need from home if we are finally going to meet someone famous.”