InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Ties of Blood and Honor ❯ Chapter One: Foriegn Visitors ( Chapter 1 )

 

Chapter One

 

A/N: Hi, folks. This idea came to mind and I decided that it couldn't wait for the end of 'Reunion'. I hope that you find it entertaining. One thing though, I'm going to try to write longer chapters with more character development, so there will be longer times between updates. As always, I don't own Inuyasha. I've tried, but, dang it all, Takahashi Rumiko just wants too much for him!

 

'This is a beautiful country.' thought Akela Wind-runner as he rode through the Japanese

countryside. Granted, it wasn't as beautiful as the Black Hills where he made his home, but he imagined that his opinion was a little baised on that account. The Native American Lacota Sioux looked over at his family and smiled.

 

Indirectly, this vacation had been his wife's idea. She had told him that she had always wanted to visit the country of her mother's birth and he had decided to make her wish come true. The radiant smile that she gave him when she saw him looking at her was worth the time and money that had gone into the planning of this trip.

 

"Where to today, darling?" asked his wife.

 

"I thought that we would visit a little shrine that I read about in the hotel brochure. It's called the Higurashi Shrine. They have a rich history and are famous for something called the", he paused while he picked up the brochure to read it, "Shikon No Tama."

 

"Hhhmmm. Higurashi, hunh? And the Jewel of Four Souls?" his wife got a thoughtful look on her face. "I've heard those names before. I think my mother told me about the Jewel when I was a little girl. And I think that she mentioned the Higurashi name in the story." She sighed. "But that has been so long ago, I really can't remember any details."

 

"Maybe your mother knew the Higurashi family?"

 

"That's possible." She smiled. "Oh well, it doesn't matter anyway. I imagine that any Higurashi's that my mother knew have been dead for a while." She returned to staring out the window, taking in the scenery of her mother's country.

 

About an hour later, the cab they were in pulled up in front of the Higurashi shrine. "Stay with us, kids." Akela called as the twins piled out of the cab and began to run up the steps of the shrine.

 

The twins turned to look at him. "Aaww, dad!" they complained, in unison.

 

"We won't get into anything, dad." the twelve year old girl named Takani swore.

 

"Yeah, dad! We won't get into anymore trouble here than we do at home." agreed her twin brother, Akiak.

 

"That's what I'm worried about." mutterred Akela. He sighed. "Alright. You behaved yourselves while being cooped up in that cab, I guess it won't hurt for you to have a little freedom. DON'T get into anything."

 

"We won't!" the twins called as they ran off to explore the shrine grounds.

 

Akela sighed, again. "I hope they behave."

 

His wife, Kagome, smiled at him and said, "I'm sure they will. After all, what kind of trouble can they get into at an old shrine?"

 

Akela smiled back

 

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Kagome stared at the blackboard in her history class and tried to concentrate on what her sensei was saying but it wasn't easy. She had argued with Inuyasha for several hours about coming back for school and then had to deal with him following her. Even now, he was on the roof, waiting for her to come out so that he could collect her and get her to the shrine as quickly as possible so that they could go back to his time.

 

'Why doesn't he understand that I have to do this if I am going to have any future here?' she thought, in exasperation. 'I don't know what he thinks I'm going to do after we defeat Naraku and the jewel is complete.'

 

A little voice in the back of her mind chimed in. 'Why don't you ask him?'

 

That brought her up short. 'Huh?'

 

'Why don't you ask him what he thinks you are going to do after the jewel is complete?' The voice in her head paused. 'Or are you afraid of the answer?'

 

Kagome was saved from this internal debate by the ringing of the class bell. Her school day was done and now she had to deal with her overbearing watch dog. She hung behind in the class room for a few minutes to allow the other kids to filter out of the halls before going to her locker. Then she fiddled around at her locker for a few minutes to kill time so that most of the students would be gone by the time she walked outside. This was her way of avoiding explaining Inuyasha to anyone. Besides the fact that he could be so darn rude at times and she didn't want him offending her friends.

 

Finally, she thought that enough time had passed for it to be safe. Unfortunately, she had forgotten the tenacity of her friends. When she stepped out of the doors of the school, she was suddenly swarmed by Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka. They were unable to get a word out before a familiar figure in red dropped from the roof to land behind them.

 

"Yo, Kagome!" he began angrily, and that was as far as he got before he was cut off by the shrill shrieks of the three surprised girls. Since he had dropped from the roof, they hadn't known he was behind them and he nearly scared them out of their socks. The bandana that he was wearing to cover his ears did nothing to protect them from the unexpected assault of the girls high pitched screams.

 

"Yah!" he yelled himself as his hands went to cover his ears. None of the girls noticed that his hands went to a different place than normal as they were all still clutching their chests and breathing heavily. "Damn it!" he swore. "What was that all about?"

 

"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled at him. "You scared them half to death! What do you expect?"

 

"Feh!" Inuyasha crossed his arms and glared at her. "I expect you to hurry so that we can go home."

 

The girls had gotten over their initial surprise and pounced on those words like a cat on a mouse.

 

"'We'?" said Ayumi.

 

"'Home'?" said Yuka.

 

Eri put two and two together and came to a startling conclusion. "Are you guys living together?" she asked, incredulously.

 

"Duh!" exclaimed Inuyasha, as Kagome looked like she was going to faint. "We've been living together for the last several monthes."

 

Kagome turned very pale. "It's not what it sounds like!" she shouted quickly, hoping to try and salvage the situation. "Inuyasha, you don't know what you're saying."

 

"What do you mean by that Kagome? They asked and I told them, simple as that. We've been traveling, eating, and sleeping together for monthes now. What's the big deal?" Inuyasha was sounding confused.

 

"Sleeping together?!" shouted the three girls.

 

"NO!" Kagome shouted, feeling her control of this situation spiraling more and more out of control with each second. "It's not like that! We haven't been together like that!" She was getting desperate to keep her girlfriends from getting the wrong idea.

 

Inuyasha's mouth opened to say something else when he stopped and then slowly closed it. His face grew still and cold, reminding Kagome of his brother. He looked at her and then nodded his head, as if coming to a decision. Then, without a word, he turned and started to walk away.

 

"Inuyasha?" Kagome called, suddenly very worried about him. She ignored the looks that her friends gave her as she took a step to follow him. "Inuyasha?" she called again.

 

Inuyasha stopped and in a very cold voice said, "Gomen, Kagome. I understand now and will go to the shrine. I will see you there." Then he continued walking away.

 

Kagome's mouth dropped open. Something was very wrong! Inuyasha never apologized! She dropped all pretense and ran up behind him, grabbing his arm. "Inuyasha, what's wrong? What do you understand now?"

 

He didn't look at her. "It's alright, Kagome. I understand that you're embarressed to be seen with me. Don't worry. I won't embarress you anymore." That said, he pulled his arm out of her hand and continued walking.

 

Kagome stood there for a second, completely stunned. Finally, she found her voice. "Inuyasha, no!" she called out in anguish. "Please, Inuyasha, I'm not embarressed to be seen with you."

 

He spun around and faced her, anger making his eyes flash. "Oh, really?" his voice dripped sarcasm. "That's not how you acted a minute ago when your friends found out that we spent time together. You couldn't wait to tell them that we didn't! In my book, that says you're embarressed to be seen with me!"

 

"But people see us together all the time in our travels." she protested.

 

"Yeah, but you don't know any of them. Get us around somebody you know, and you don't want me around!"

 

"It's not like that, Inuyasha! They think we're sleeping together!" she shouted, not realizing that her friends had come up behind her.

 

"Well, we do!" Inuyasha shouted back. "What's your point?"

 

"Inuyasha, they don't mean 'sleep' sleeping together." she said, desperate to get him to understand why she had been so embarressed earlier.

 

Now Inuyasha looked more confused than angry. "They don't? Then what do they mean?"

 

"Uuhh, it's kind of hard to explain." suddenly realizing the trap she had gotten herself into.

 

"Try me." he stated, folding his arms across his chest. "I'm not stupid, you know."

 

Kagome blushed. "They think we're having ..... sex."

 

The last word was barely audible, but Inyasha heard it loud and clear. His eyebrows and his ears shot up. If you knew where to look, you could even see the tips of them pushing against the bandanna he was wearing. He drew a deep breath and then looked at the girls behind Kagome. "Are you guys nuts!?" he bellowed. "What do you take me for? Some kind of hentai? I haven't even asked her to be mates, yet for cryin' out loud!" He was going to rant at the girls some more when a sudden gasp from Kagome brought him up short.

 

"Kagome?" He put his hands on her shoulders as he looked at her in concern. "What's wrong?"

 

"I sense jewel shards." she said, in shock. "And it feels like they are at the shrine."

 

"Then we have no time to lose!" he shouted as he scooped her up and began running.

 

"I'll see you guys later!" Kagome shouted over Inuyasha's shoulder as they quickly moved out of sight.

 

Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka all looked at each other. Suddenly they began giggling. "Definately sleeping together." they all said to each other and then turned to go to their favorite resteraunt, each wondering when the wedding would take place and if they would be in it.

 

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Akela felt it first. He was standing on the shrine grounds, listening to an old man drone on about the shrine and it's history. Suddenly, he felt the surge of power, followed almost immediately by a scream of "DAD! Come quick!" from Akiak. He turned and ran toward the sound of his son's voice that seemed to be coming from an old building behind the main residencial house.

 

"Akiak!" he shouted. "Where are you?" He didn't wait on an answer but began to sniff the air, trying to get a track on his son's scent. It did lead to the old shack.

 

"Down here, Dad!" shouted his son, cofirming what his nose had already told him. "Hurry!" Akiak's voice had a sound of urgency to it.

 

As Akela started down the stairs into the old shack, his wife and their guide came up behind him.

 

"Wait!" shouted the old man. "You're not allowed down there!"

 

"Sorry, elder. But my son is down there and he has called for my help." This said he ran down the steps into the gloom of the shack. He found his son at the edge of what appeared to be an old well. He was looking down into it. Akela's blood ran cold as he realized something. Takani wasn't with her brother!

 

"Akiak! Where's Takani?"

 

His son looked at him with a panic striken look on his face. "She was right here, Dad. We were looking around and she said that something didn't feel right about this old wellhouse so she came in here to look and then she climbed up on the edge of this well to look down into it and then she slipped and fell and there was a flash of blue light and then she was gone and I'm sorry, Dad that we didn't listen to you closer but we didn't think that anything could happen here...." Akiak continued to babble as Kagome came down the stairs.

 

Akela looked at his wife. "Kagome!" He didn't notice the double take that the old man gave him or the quick look up the stairs of the wellhouse as if looking for someone. "Take care of Akiak." This said, he placed a hand on the side of the well and vaulted the low wall to drop down into the well. He hit the bottom in a crouch, looking for his daughter. She was no where to be seen! 'Damn it! If this is their idea of a joke, I'll kill them both!' But, remembering the look on his son's face, he doubted that this was a joke. He dropped down farther into his crouch to see if he could find his daughter's scent. It didn't take long. 'She was here, I smell her, so where did she go?' He closed his eyes and centered his senses, remembering that surge of power that he felt before Akiak called to him. There! There it was! He could feel the resonances of the power around him, coming from the walls of this old well.

 

"What have you gotten yourself into this time, Takani?" he asked the air, softly. He looked up to the top of the well to see his wife and son looking down at him, as well as the old man. His eyes narrowed at the old man. Maybe he could shed some light on the whereabouts of his daughter. He considered leaping out of the well to confront the old man, but noticed the ladder against one wall and decided that it wouldn't do to show the oldster too much. He quickly climbed the ladder even as a part of his mind asked why there was a ladder here. When he reached the top, he went over to his wife and shook his head at her questioning look. Then he looked at the old man.

 

"Where's my daughter, elder?"

 

The old man paled and began to stammer. "I-I-I'm sure that I have no idea."

 

Before he could react, Kagome beat him to it. The old man suddenly found himself against a wall, held up by a pair of delicate looking hands. "You are lying, Higurashi-sama." she said in a low voice. "Where is my daughter?"

 

The old man didn't get a chance to answer before a rough voice called from the doorway, "Put the old man down, bitch!"

 

Akela and Kagome quickly looked at the doorway to see a young man dressed in red with a bandanna on his head and a young woman standing behind him. The young man had a hand resting on the hilt of an old sword with the look of someone who was more than ready to draw it.

 

"Don't interfer, boy." Kagome turned to look at the old man that she held. "This man knows where my daughter disappeared to and I mean to find out what he knows." Suddenly she stiffened and turned her gaze back to the young man. She sniffed the wind that came in through the doorway. "You're inu-youkai!?" She looked at her husband. "Akela, he's a hanyou."

 

Akela nodded his head. "Yeah, I caught that from his scent, too." He drew a deep breath and let it out slowly while observing the tension that went through the young man and his companion after his wife's announcement. "I'm going to unmask. Maybe that will help this before it gets out of hand." He held up a hand in a peace gesture. "Do not be alarmed at what I am about to do." he warned.

 

"What the hell are you talking about?" Inuyasha began, and then stopped as the man standing before him shimmered and then changed.

 

Behind him, a detached part of Kagome's mind went back to something that Jeninji's mother had told her, about how not all hanyou's were fortunate enough to look as human as Inuyasha. Over all, this man; no, this hanyou, who stood stood before them looked human. That is until you came to his head. Unlike Inuyasha, who except for his eyes, ears, and fangs looked human, there could be no mistaking his head for a humans. No, it more closely resembled the head of a North American timber wolf.

 

A/N: Well, how's that for a beginning. Hope you like it. I have some interesting plans for this one. I'm going to try to keep it from getting as convulted as 'Reunion', but sometimes these stories take on a life of their own and I end up just along for the ride. 'Til we meet again, Fyrloche.