InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tomorrow ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter Eight

 

Kazeko sighed contentedly as a light breeze ruffled her hair, and the flock of birds riding the wind above her left her in momentary shadow before continuing south. Odd, she thought sadly, That anyone should want to be in the south these days.

 

She felt a slight shift in the air and sat up to see SesshoMaru-sama walking the path below her. She raised her arm to wave, and he looked up. An instant later, he was standing on the cliff edge near her.

 

“I didn't see you move!” She said with surprise as she stood up. “Anyway, are you responsible for this?” she said, waving her father's letter. He only raised an eyebrow. “Otou-san's furious,” she continued. “The youkai keep vanishing in his path. He hasn't killed one in over a week!”

 

“And this is a problem?” SesshoMaru said questioningly. Kazeko grinned broadly.

 

“Not at all,” she said happily. “It's wonderful!” Suddenly her grin faded and she looked worried. “But where are they all going to go?”

 

“I'm sending them to the islands in the north,” SesshoMaru said. “Most of them are uninhabited, there should probably one where we are safe.” He looked a little sad.

 

“Do you hate having to run?” Kazeko asked. He looked sharply over to her. “Gomen!” she said hastily. “That was rude-“

 

“Perhaps, but it is true,” SesshoMaru said quietly. “I do hate that we are forced to run, but I will not see such bloodshed again.”

 

Kazeko felt the urge to ask what he meant, but held her tongue. She had a vague but fierce feeling that it was not her right to ask. Instead, she said, “Are you going to your friend's village? In the north?”

 

“Yes,” SesshoMaru said. “No doubt the homeless youkai moving north will be amassing there before moving on. There is no longer need for me in the south, because those fleeing are leaving warnings in every village through which they pass.”

 

“Well, there's a few already here,” Kazeko said. “I met a girl a few days ago, with her baby brother, a tiger-youkai called Mitsuko. I told her of your friend's village. Could you… make sure she's all right?” Kazeko asked hesitantly. “She was so thin and weak, I've been worried about her.”

 

SesshoMaru was unreadable for a moment, then gave her a faint smile. “I shall pass on your regards to her,” he said, then leapt off of the cliff-edge and vanished.

 

Kazeko watched the path for a second, then with a sigh headed back to the village. Her mother was surely looking for her by now. Kazeko couldn't afford to give her any suspicions which might reach the ears of her father.

 

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“Who's she?” Kazuki asked without preamble as he walked into the hut.

 

“Why are you here?” Isamu said without looking up from his breakfast.

 

“Is it too much to ask that I can't act on the random, sleep-befuddled whim to see my best friend?” Kazuki replied mildly. “Anyway-“

 

“She's from down south,” Isamu replied, “Her name's Mitsuko, she's a tigress, and see that baby? That's…”

 

“She has a kid? Damn…” Kazuki said, looking crestfallen.

 

“- her baby brother, baka.” Isamu finished, standing up and dragging Kazuki out of the hut. “And according to Okaa-san that's the first time they've slept in a month, so let's let `em enjoy it, eh?”

 

“So it's true?” Kazuki said quietly, suddenly serious. “They're really being slaughtered? The peaceful youkai in the south?” Isamu nodded, his throat tightening.

 

“I heard Otou-san and Okaa-san talking about it last night,” he said sadly. “The armies are moving north. Sooner or later, they will get here. We're going to have to run, my parents and Kiki and I. You'll all be safe, you're all human.”

 

Kazuki looked shocked. “We're not gonna let you run alone!” He burst out. “You're our friends, we're not gonna let them hurt you. Anyway, could you really leave Haruka behind?”

 

Isamu flushed, but then he shook his head. “No,” he murmured, “But we couldn't put you in danger like that…”

 

“Who's in danger?” Kiki asked. Isamu hadn't realized that she and Hitomi had been following them.

 

“Are we in danger?” Hitomi said, her violet eyes wide. “Is there another war?”

 

Isamu looked at Kazuki. Kazuki shook his head slightly. Forcing a smile, Isamu knelt down so that he was face-to-face with the girls. “It's all right,” he said. “No-one's in danger. We were just talking about training.”

 

“Oh.” Kiki still looked suspicious, but then she grabbed Hitomi's hand and said, “C'mon, Hitomi-chan, I wanna show you someone!”

 

“We should probably tell Ane-ue, you know,” Kazuki said thoughtfully. “They have a right to know.”

 

“Yeah, but they're not here just now, are they?” Isamu said. “Didn't they go out on a job…?”

 

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“Hiraikotsu!” Yuki shrieked, hurling the gigantic boomerang at the distant stag-youkai, who rolled to avoid the worst of the blow but was still knocked to the ground. Haruka threw one end of her nunchaku at him, wrapping around his arms. He yanked hard and she was pulled across the ground.

 

“HARUKA!” Yuki yelled, and caught the youkai in the gut with Hiraikotsu, pinning him to the ground. Haruka raised her sword to decapitate him.

 

“OTOU-SAN!” A voice yelled, and the girls turned to see a boy of about eight run over and crouch down next to the youkai, shielding him. “Don't kill him!” The boy yelled.

 

“Get away, Daichi!” the youkai said, but Daichi shook his head.

 

“No!” he sobbed. “They'll kill you!”

 

To both youkai's shock, the weapons were suddenly retracted. They looked up to see the two female taijiya watching them.

 

“Y'know, if you just need food,” Yuki said, eyeing the boy's thin frame, “You could just ask. There's no need to attack people. You both look human enough.”

 

“I'm not asking humans for anything,” the man spat. “Not after what they did in the south. They murdered my mate and daughters. Daichi and I are only alive because we were in the forest at the time.”

 

“In the south… so it's really happening?” Haruka said, looking horrified. “They're really slaughtering youkai? That's…”

 

Yuki nodded, a muscle leaping in her jaw. Then she smiled and said, “If you're heading north, you could stop at get some food from our village. If you don't want to take anything from humans,” she added, seeing the man's dark look, “Ask Inu-oji-san. He's hanyou.”

 

The man nodded slowly. “Daichi and I are going to continue north,” he said. “We will get food however we need to.”

 

“Try and show a little more respect for humans, then?” Yuki said. “If you hate all humans because of what those armies are doing, then you're no better than them.”

 

“I'll bear that in mind,” the man said, picking up his son.

 

“Thank you for not killing Otou-san!” the boy hollered as they ran off. Haruka waved them off, then her smile faded when she turned to Yuki.

 

“If they're really moving north, they'll eventually get to our village, won't they?” she said quietly. “So what'll happen to…?” she couldn't bring herself to end the sentence. The thought of Isamu in danger… maybe even being killed like the stag's family…

 

Yuki smiled and patted her on the shoulder. “It's all right,” she said kindly. “Do you really think any of us are gonna sit back and let those people attack Isamu-kun and his family? If they want to kill any youkai or hanyou in our village, they're gonna have to go through the clan of the youkai-taijiya first.”

 

Haruka smiled. “Damn straight,” she murmured, which made Yuki laugh out loud.

 

“Wow, you must really be desperate to save him, to swear that badly,” she teased. Haruka started laughing too, as they headed back to the nearby village to change. But Yuki hung behind for a moment, staring first to the south and then in the direction of their village with a strange look on her face. But it was gone in an instant as she caught up with Haruka, laughing and joking as usual.

 

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SesshoMaru landed in front of InuYasha's hut, instantly greeted by InuYasha with a “hell, you mean you didn't die in the south?” He ignored InuYasha, as usual, and instead spoke over his head to the miko, taijiya and houshi who were gathered inside.

 

“Youkai are fleeing north in masses, now,” he said. “The armies haven't killed anyone in a while but it also means that they're moving faster. They could well reach here by winter.”

 

“Dammit,” InuYasha growled. “And they don't see hanyou as any better than youkai, do they?”

 

“No,” SesshoMaru said, “nor do they care for any human who should assist youkai. In absence of youkai to kill they have been cutting down any human who impedes them, claiming that he is protecting youkai. They are even killing those who were friendly with the youkai living in their villages, whether or not they knew that they were youkai. So even you,” he said, turning his attention to Miroku and Sango, “are in grave danger.”

 

“So we'll have to run too, eventually,” Kagome murmured, looking pale. There was a tiger-youkai girl next to her who was looking terrified.

 

“Kazeko's in danger!” she whispered.

 

“Kazeko? Oh… the girl who directed you here, right?” Miroku said.

 

“As it happens, she is the one who saved me when I was gravely wounded by bandits some weeks ago,” SesshoMaru said. “I saw her on my way here, she is worried about you. She is safe for now, however.”

 

“Thank you, SesshoMaru-sama,” Mitsuko gasped. “But I fear she will not remain so, not when her father returns.”

 

SesshoMaru shook his head as he turned to leave. “I am indebted to her for the assistance she rendered me, and so I will watch out for her welfare.”

 

“Arigatou Gozaimasu,” Mitsuko said again. SesshoMaru walked out of the hut.

 

“SesshoMaru-oji-san!”

 

He looked down to find that InuYasha's daughter, Kikyo, had run over to him.

 

“You're back sooner than usual,” she said. “Is something happening?”

 

“Nothing that concerns you,” he said, with a slight shake of the head. “Do not worry.”

 

“Okay…” she said. Then she thrust something into his hand. “That's for you!” she said. “Have a safe journey, oji-san!” Then she ran off. SesshoMaru looked down at what she had handed him.

 

It was a small blue flower. It looked vaguely familiar…

 

“This is for you!”

 

A different little girl, handing him flowers with a smile…

 

SesshoMaru shook his head harder, clearing away the old memories, and unconsciously tucked the flower into his armor as he left the village.

 

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The story's moving a little faster than I'd intended to… I have several important scenes already written, my main problem is figuring out how to get them between each scene. Well, I'll just see what happens. This story's starting to write itself out of my control…

 

InuYasha is the property of Takahashi Rumiko-Sensei, and I claim no ownership of any of it. All couples not involving original characters will be strictly canon. Aside from Haruka, Yuki and Kazuki, I made up all of the kids, though since birthdates other than Kazuki's were never really stated in the manga, nor names, I've made these up as well. This fanfic will make little sense if you have not read the entire manga, and I'm afraid that to read the last twenty or so volumes you will have to (at the time of writing) venture into the internet, but I strongly suggest that you do buy the Tankoban volumes for yourself, so that Takahashi-sensei can afford to continue gracing us with her imagination. Anyway, hope you enjoy the fic. ^_-