InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Young Ones ❯ On Their Own ( Chapter 14 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer: InuYasha belongs to Rumiko Takahasi and her publishers. No profit is made from this story. No copyright infringement is intended.


Chapter 14 – On their own


The now considerably smaller traveling party had made good time for the rest of the day, but InuYasha knew that Kagome and the princess would eventually need food and rest. The princess in particular needed to deal with her separation from her father and Kaede.

The landscape had once again started to change. The towering mountains were no longer barren rock, but lushly covered by forest. The road no longer cut through narrow barren canyons of rock but were sided by rocky hills, small meadows and stands of trees.

Smelling running water InuYasha veered off the road and soon led the group towards a small clearing near a small fast moving stream.

Instructing Yasha to guard the girls and trusting Kagome to start setting up camp InuYasha quickly circled the area double checking that there were neither youkai nor large animals in the vicinity.

InuYasha returned to the camp smiling, Kagome and the princess were inventorying the contents of their saddle bags. As he squatted down beside the girls he inquired “So what do we have to work with?”

Glancing at her mate Kagome smiled in response “Well the most important thing is that I had a copy of the full prophecy in my bag. If nothing else we can continue to follow the clues. The sooner we find the relic the sooner we can get the Princess and Yasha back home to their families.” Seeing that she had everyone’s attention she continued “In addition to the prophecy, the princess and I both have our bows and arrows, we have some extra clothes, a tiny bit of food, one very small cooking pot, one small canteen, and luckily our bedrolls were strapped onto the bags. Considering what happened we are in fairly good shape assuming you and Yasha can catch us some fresh meat.”

Taking the hint InuYasha turned to his small counterpart and inquired “So do you know how to fish?”

Leading the young hanyou to the stream InuYasha proceeded to wade into the water indicating that Yasha should follow. As InuYasha proceeded to show Yasha how to catch fish with his bare hands the girls moved to watch the proceedings. Within minuets InuYasha had grabbed and flung two large fish onto the stream bank, not to be outdone Yasha was determined to show he could do anything his elder version could do. Scanning the water intently Yasha finally saw a huge fish that he was determined to grab and hold onto. Biting his lip the small hanyou concentrated and just as the fish neared his leg he punched his arm into the water, as his fingers brushed against the slippery scales of the fish he grabbed with his claw tipped fingers and within moments he had flung the fish onto the bank next to the ones InuYasha had caught.

Yasha’s concentration was broken as he heard his princess squeal with delight and proclaim “Oh how wonderful, we’re so lucky that we have two such cleaver men to hunt for us!”

Men? Yasha blushed; his princess thought he was a man? Smiling, InuYasha slapped his hand on his counterpart’s back “Come on ‘kid’ we’ve got plenty for tonight and the first rule of hunting is you catch it, you clean it!”

A short while later InuYasha had shown Yasha how to clean and prepare the fish for cooking over an open campfire. That led to the next lesson, how to start a campfire with a bit of flint and sturdy claws. Yasha understood the reason for these lessons, if he and his princess became separated from InuYasha and Kagome it would be up to him to protect, care for and feed his princess.

The fish cooked quickly and soon all ate their fill. As their simple meal came to an end Kagome pulled out the prophecy and some notes she had made back in the capital.

Turning to gaze at her three companions Kagome began “Look we actually are in the right area to start looking. The prophecy said to look in the forests of the North and we are in the North and it looks like the forests are starting. The next point of the prophecy was that the sky would be dry, but water would fall like rain, that sort of phenomenon should be easy to recognize. I say we keep on the road, if we reach more forested land that’s great, but if the road leads away from the forest, then I say we get off the road and follow the trees. Anyway, that’s my opinion, what do the rest of you think?”

InuYasha and Yasha turned towards the little princess, who quickly spoke “I agree, that sounds like a good way to start. We are following the prophecy, but not committing ourselves too much. Also if what Kagome said back at the landslide is true, that the rock fall somehow was not natural, it could be that the prophecy will force us to take the correct path.”

InuYasha nodded his agreement and added “That’s a good course to take, but now we better get you two settled for the night before it gets too dark, I’ll take the first watch and Yasha can relieve me later.”

At these words Kagome immediately began to unroll her bedding, laying it out near the fire, she then turned to help the princess, but Yasha had already spread out his princess’s bedding and was helping her get settled. Kagome noticed that InuYasha was also watching the pair, she caught her mate’s eye and smiled, the children were so cute.

As Kagome crawled into her bedroll InuYasha quickly leaned over and gave her a quick kiss before settling down his back against a small boulder Tessaiga in his hands.

Yasha sat cross-legged next to his sleeping princess and sword in hand allowed himself to lightly doze. This was the first night that his princess would ever be sleeping without Kaede nearby and Yasha worried that she might not sleep well.

It was only a few hours before dawn when Yasha heard his name whispered, it was InuYasha calling from his place by the boulder. Yasha nodded indicating that he was awake and would take over the watch. He realized that InuYasha had been on watch for most of the night leaving himself only a few hours to get any rest.

As Yasha observed his elder version close his eyes and shift just a tiny bit closer to his mate he smiled, tomorrow night he would insist on the first watch and let InuYasha get a decent nights sleep.

****

The next morning the group quickly ate the leftover fish, packed their bags and started down the road, everyone walking side by side. After about an hour of walking InuYasha suggested that the girls climb on their hanyou’s backs and let them run so that they could make better time towards the ever thickening forest.

As lunchtime approached InuYasha slowed down letting Kagome slide off his back to once again walk Yasha and the princess mimicking their elder’s movements.

InuYasha had to be moving a bit slower so he could sniff and listen for the sound of what he hoped would be their lunch, but it was Yasah who surprised them, darting off the road to return a few moments later with a good sized rabbit dangling from his hand, it’s neck neatly broken.

InuYasha was impressed, the kid learned fast. Turing to his younger version InuYasha commented “I guess you’re in charge of lunch, you pick out the spot where we should stop and start the fire, if you don’t know how to skin and dress the rabbit I’ll show you.”

A short while later as the rabbit cooked Kagome turned to the princess and advised her “Rest while you can, we’ll be on the road till dinnertime.”

True to her word Kagome was correct, InuYasha keeping them moving all through the afternoon only stopping as evening approached.

This time InuYasha was able to track a sounder of wild swine with a number of good sized piglets. InuYasha only had four to feed so he quickly snatched one of the piglets, moving away so fast and cutting the animal’s throat so efficiently that the adult swine were not even aware of the hanyou’s actions.

This time there was so much extra meat that Kagome gathered large leaves to wrap the leftovers in; they would feed the group for not just breakfast, but also the next day’s lunch.

As the sun set Yasha shivered, he did not feel the cold like a human would, but they were at a fairly high altitude and he was still going shirtless. He had been a bit chilled the night before, but as he sat near the fire he was able to sleep. This night the princess noticed her hanyou shiver and pulled out the black haori she had packed for him. Turning to her slave she handed him the haori and said “I am ordering you to put this on now and don’t even think of protesting. I am not giving you a choice in this matter, you are my slave and I am telling you to put this on.” Yasha sighed, he did not want to put on the haori, but it was chilly and he rationalized it was an order from his mistress, he had to obey.

As everyone settled in for the night Yasha insisted on taking the first watch, he would not let InuYasha stay up all night again. After a bit of protesting InuYasha gave in, knowing that unlike his younger version he always woke up several times during the night to make sure all was safe, he would only let little Yasha stay up part of the night.

After a fortunately uneventful night (InuYasha had relieved Yasha a little less than half the night through) the quartet set off once again. Since the road was heading into thicker and thicker forest the group saw no need to leave it.

The longer they traveled on the road, though, the more concerned they became. There absolutely not traffic of any kind on this road. The princess had verified that this land of thick forests and towering mountains had very few inhabitants as there was very little good farming land. As far as she knew her father had forbidden large scale deforestation. This had been his beloved Queen’s dowry gift and he wanted it to remain just as it was when they wed. Still, the lack of any kind of traffic was unnerving.

Their concerns were answered when they were attacked by a large lower youkai, some sort of lizard, not very intelligent, but quite large. InuYasha dispatched the creature with a few passes of Tessaiga and they were once more on their way. Less than an hour later they were once again attacked, this time by a lower youkai that looked like some sort of worm with feathers and a spiked tail; it was dispatched as easily as the first.

After a brief stop for lunch they were on their way again, and once again they were attacked by an unidentifiable lower youkai. InuYasha was starting to get fed up and after once again cleaning some sort of nasty ichor off of his blade he exploded “Well now we know why there’s no one on the road. This forest is overrun with lesser youkai, what I don’t understand is why I don’t sense them until right before they attack. Kagome, you Yasha and I should all be able to sense them all over the place. Either all of our powers aren’t working or something is masking all these youkai’s auras.”

Once the group had placed some distance between themselves and the latest butchered youkai Kagome asked InuYasha to lower her once again to the ground so she could speak to her companions. “Listen I’ve been thinking about what InuYasha said; he’s right we ‘should’ be able to feel all of these youkai except that I think I can feel something else. Don’t know what it is, but these is something out here, it’s not exactly like what I felt back at the landslide, this has more power, but I can not identify it. I definitely do not feel anything evil or for that matter good. There is something out here with power, but it is neutral and I think it is masking all of the youkai auras in the area. Do any of you feel anything?”

InuYasha and Yasha both stood still trying to feel what Kagome felt. After a few moments InuYasha’s eyes grew wide and he nodded. “You’re right, I can feel it now, but it’s not a living presence. These feels more like a force of nature.”

Yasha nodded his agreement adding “I think it’s stronger in front of us, whatever it is we seem to be heading towards it. That could be why there have been more youkai attacks. Perhaps they are supposed to protect this power or they might just be attracted to it.”

The princess was feeling a little left out since she could not sense youkai auras like everyone else and she idly wondered if she would one day develop spiritual powers like Kagome had. Still she was a princess and wanted to make sure her opinion was heard, so with a bit of bravado she proclaimed “Well then what are we waiting for, the faster we get to this source of power the sooner we get away from all of these pesky youkai.”

Another hour of InuYasha and Yasha running at top speed saw the group entering a landscape of unsurpassed beauty. Tall thin mountains poked out of the dense woods in the distance, Kagome was struck at how much the landscape looked like a Chinese long painting.

The two hanyou finally slowed down when they began to hear the roar of a massive amount of water. Continuing at a slower rate they rounded a bend in the road and were stopped when they realized that the road seemed to lead right into an impossibly tall waterfall.

Looking up at the spectacle before them Yasha commented “The sky is dry, but water is falling like rain.”

Unable to take their eyes off of the wonder everyone nodded in agreement.