InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tomorrow ❯ Chapter 27 ( Chapter 27 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

“Isamu!” Kazuki yelled. “Stop!”

Isamu halted and turned to see that Kazuki had stopped some way back. Yuki, Haruka, Shippo and Ryoichi's family stopped as well. That was when Isamu realized that Mitsuko was missing.

Kazuki turned and ran back. Isamu followed him along with the others. They found Mitsuko quite a ways back, stopped by a tree, standing stock still and staring into the distance. Kiki and Hitomi were both calling her name and shaking her shoulders.

“It's a vision,” Kazuki said. He reached out to shake Mitsuko's arm. “Hey? Mitsuko? Is it s vision, Mitsuko? Mitsuko?”

The tigress snapped awake at his call. “Blood ...and fire,” she whispered. Kazeko got to her feet.

“Blood and fire?” she asked. “Mitsuko, what did you see? Who did you see?”

“Our paths changed,” she said. “They are headed towards the blood and fire. We made a decision that changed our direction. But who will burn...” she looked sorrowful and scared. “I cannot tell.”

“A decision...” Haruka said, looking worried.

“Was it when we decided to go to Hakureizan?” Yuki said fiercely. “We can't go, if it was...”

“I don't know,” Mitsuko said. “It could have been anything. The tiniest change. It may be nothing to do with Hakureizan. I cannot help feeling that it will not change even if we attempt to change our course.”

“Then do we go on?” Kazeko asked, looking concerned.

“Visions?” Shippo asked.

“Mitsuko-san is clairvoyant,” Isamu explained. “Lately, she keeps seeing a future of fire and blood.”

“Can't imagine why,” Kazuki muttered.

“You must come to Hakureizan,” Ryoichi urged. “With so many youkai there, surely you will be safe. You mustn't risk going out on your own.”

“What do we do?” Kazeko asked again. Mitsuko shook her head hurriedly.

“The vision came so late, i'm sure it was nothing to do with our decision to go,” she insisted. “Something changed elsewhere, I'm sure of it. We'd better go on. Better to gamble on the safe option.”

“Come on,” the older son said. “Let's move, eh? No use worryin' about the future when, at the present, there's the possibility of food and being able to see people without bein' scared shitless for your life.”

“Language,” his mother reprimanded. He just grinned and ran.

Shippo took off as well, outstripping the boy. Within moments, they were all running once more, to a place where not a blade of grass grew, the land remembering acts of great evil that would scar it for centuries.

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“Didn't that thing get smashed?” Kohaku asked, staring nonplussed at the armour that SesshoMaru was tying back on. It was in one piece, as clean and perfect as if it were new.

“I have been wearing it long enough that it has absorbed a considerable amount of my youki,” SesshoMaru explained. “It is capable of repairing itself and has the same immunities as I. Such things happen to any clothes worn by a youkai for any length of time.”

“Makes sense,” Rin said. “Oh, SesshoMaru-sama...” she dug around in her kimono and pulled out a little bag. “I think you dropped this, during the fight. The... items fell out, but I put them back in. If that's all right.”

SesshoMaru was still for a second. Then, he reached out and gently picked up the bag.

“Arigatou,” he said, making to stow the bag away.

“Items? I mean, I think it's pretty common guess that you've still got Kagura's feather, but what else is in there?” asked InuYasha, master of tact and delicacy. Kagome slapped his arm so hard that her hand singed his kimono.

SesshoMaru narrowed his eyes, glaring dangerously for a long moment. His hand clutched the bag tightly, something poking out of the hole at the bottom, like a blue petal. It had the scent of an Inu-youkai, InuYasha realized. It was familiar, yet he was sure that he'd never smelled it before.

“It is none of your concern, baka,” SesshoMaru said coolly, stowing the little bag back into his armour.

“If you two are finished,” Miroku said, breaking the slightly awkward silence, “are we gonna move or what?”

“Where are we, anyway?” Kohaku asked. “Seems a little familiar...”

“We're coming close to Hakureizan, aren't we?” Sango said. “I think... it seems familiar. I remember that it was pretty far north.”

“We might be,” Kagome said. Climbing onto InuYasha's back. Everyone saddled up, they began to move. “We came to it from the south, I think. Maybe when we get nearer, tomorrow or the next day, we'll see that shrine where Renkotsu tried to burn us to death.”

“Scared me outta my mind,” InuYasha grumbled. “Didya have to look so dead? I thought you'd all snuffed it!”

“Well sorry for being struck down by rare and powerful poisons, being knocked out by a combination of said poison and sleeping incense, and nearly burning to death while trapped,” Miroku said mockingly. “While we're at it, may I apologize for being born with a hellhole in my hand?”

“Shut up, bouzo,” InuYasha snapped, “or I'll cut you a new one.”

Miroku just sniggered. Sango gave a long-suffering sigh. Kagome merely smiled gently.

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“Stop!”

Isamu skidded to a halt on the dirt path, sniffing the air. It was long past sunset, and Kiki and Hitomi were sleeping in his arms, but Shippo had insisted that they keep moving ever since they had passed a burned-out old temple. Kazuki, Yuki and Haruka were starting to flag; strong though they were, they were human, and they were tiring and slowing. That was when Isamu had picked up youkai scents and, moments later, the order had rung out.

“What's going on?” Kazuki asked, looking around at the trees. He could only sense youki everywhere; Isamu's nose, however, identified twelve different youkai, all adults. Guards.

A tall, thin woman appeared in front of them, and then the others melted out of the trees. They all watched each other with suspicion. The woman had a scent of rabbit about her, and Isamu smelled a menagerie of other scents from the others; horse, eagle, snake, rat, monkey, boar, ram, even a couple of cats.

“Geez,” he muttered. “With me, Ryoichi and Mitsuko, we've practically got the damn zodiac...”

“Silence, mongrel,” the rabbit said. “Why have you brought so many humans?”

“Hey, we're not packing if it makes you feel any better,” Yuki said, crossing her arms and glaring imperiously at the rabbit.

“Geez, you mean we're all classed as the enemy now?” Kazuki complained. “Well, that's shit. So do we try to get past you and have to fight for it, or head back south, run headlong into the army and get slaughtered?”

“If you treat all humans as enemies, you're no better than Yamazaki,” Mitsuko growled.

“There are humans here,” the boar pointed out.

“Yes, but they all have mates, and some even half Halfling children like these,” the rabbit said, gesturing to Isamu and Kiki. “You can smell it yourselves- only one of the humans has any lasting scent of youkai about her. “Haruka blushed and Isamu moved a little closer to her. “What grudge could Yamazaki hold against the other?”

“Possibly the fact that we hold the crazy notion that youkai can be something other than an enemy,” Kazeko said, “although I have to say, you're doing splendidly at invalidating that belief.”

“Besides, Haruka's family,” Kazuki said, “And that means Isamu is too. No way in hell are we letting them face this shit alone.”

“Stop squabbling and let them in,” Ryoichi said. “They're good kids. They'll only be an asset to us.”

“Stop quibbling and let us in, prey,” Shippo growled.

“ `Prey'?” Kazuki whispered in Isamu's ear.

“It's a fox addressing a rabbit whose name he doesn't know,” Isamu hissed back. “What the hell else do you expect him to call her?”

“Do you have any idea who these kids are? Who their parents are?” Shippo said. “Their parents are the monk and taijiya, the possessed child and travelling child, the miko and hanyou. The ones who fought Naraku. Half of them are kin to the Inu No Taishou, by blood or marriage. They're not sneaking in to betray us, so you can drop the damn paranoia and let us into Hakureizan. I was here when the walls turned to flesh and acid, so honestly, prey doesn't give me any worry, not when it's between my family and friends, and safety.”

“Let's just let them in already,” one of the cats said. The rabbit had gone very white-faced as she glared at Shippo, but clearly, something in her genetics wasn't happy about staring down a large orange fox. “Two of those hanyou are dogs, I can tell a mile off. That makes them SesshoMaru's kin. I mean, it's not like there's even ten of them left, right?”

“I agree,” the other cat said. “Let's just keep an eye out for the army and stop bugging youkai, all right?”

The rabbit snorted and bounded away. The others spread out again, but the eagle bowed regally to them before leaving.

“Forgive her,” he said. “Her sisters were killed by scared humans. Humans themselves scare her silly now. I guess you can't blame her for being a little paranoid.”

“How many people are here?” Ryoichi asked.

“Somewhere above two hundred, maybe even two fifty or more,” the eagle said. “I volunteered to be a guard, so I haven't seen a lot of people, but you can smell them all once you get near. There's probably more that've appeared from other directions. Everyone's a little scared, so everyone's in pretty close-knit groups. Better hope you see someone you know, `cause the surrounding forests have already been stripped bare of firewood.”

“Thanks,” Isamu said. The eagle bowed again and then, spreading his huge, dark wings, took off. Shippo started leading them onwards.

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“How'd we end up at the sea?” InuYasha complained, looking over the dark water.

“We had to go pretty far around that village,” Sango commented, looking around. Rin leaned over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes.

“Hey, is that-” she began, but SesshoMaru had already darted over to the sodden figure. It looked like a soldier. There were deep scratches across his cheek. Whatever had pushed him into the water had dug claws in.

“This uniform...” SesshoMaru said, sweeping his gaze over the man's stained clothes, “he is one of Yamazaki's.”

Kagome knelt down and gently slapped the man's undamaged cheek. He groaned a little but did not wake. She then patted the stinging, salt-filled wound son his other cheek. He yelped in pain as his eyes snapped open.

“Konnichiwa,” Miroku said. “Are you one of General Yamazaki's soldiers?”

The man stared at them with wide eyes. “You're them!” He yelled. “The youkai and the dark warriors! The survivors told us about you! You're-”

“I think that's a `yes',” Kohaku said.

“Why are you so far north?” SesshoMaru said. The man trembled but shook his head.

“I'm telling you youkai nothing!” he spat.

“Why are you so far north?” SesshoMaru repeated, a dangerous edge to his voice that was as sharp as a blade.

“If it makes things any easier, we already knew that you were coming in ships,” Miroku said. “But you were so far behind when we saw you. Even allowing for the couple of hours that we took a break for after fighting the bears, the ships should still be in sight, whether to the north or south. Yet there is nothing to be seen.”

“And the currents around here carry everything southwards,” Sango said. “So you must have fallen overboard north. How? No ship can move that fast.”

We're not just using the wind now,” the soldier whispered, crumbling under the questioning and SesshoMaru's cold glare. “We decided to use oars as well. We were moving so fast. Then we heard flashes and crashing, like thunder and lightning, and the roars of giant beasts. Hayashi-sama- he's the captain, he's been in command while Yamazaki-sama is resting his injury-”

“Fuck! He is alive?!” InuYasha blurted out. The man jumped.

“Continue,” SesshoMaru said, turning his glare on his half-brother.

“H-he said that we were catching up with the youkai, and we'd prepare to disembark and set up an ambush soon,” he said, in a rush of words. “But then that ghost attacked...”

“Ghost?” Rin asked. She reached out and tapped the man's cheek, causing him to flinch in pain as the salt water stung at hi wound again. “A ghost did that?”

“It must have been,” the man said. “We killed all of those youkai. The wolves. It pushed me overboard, but I don't know what happened after that. It must have been...” The soldier looked up at the moon. “Last night, maybe.”

Kagome covered her mouth with her hands as she wet white. InuYasha wrapped his arms around her, holding her close, trying to soothe her.

“But... they're so far north...” she whimpered. “The children...” she clutched her hands over the very slight rounding of her stomach. Rin was also trembling. Sango was clutching Hiraikotsu so hard that her fists were white.

“Then we move,” SesshoMaru said, “now.”

No-one argued. Within moments, they were all running once more, full pelt north, leaving the man behind on the beach, clutching his cheek.

“Children?” he whispered, staring after the creatures' departing forms.

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Here you go, Saphira404! I actually have the climax and wind-down of the story already written, So once I actually GET there, the chapters're gonna flow... until then, i'm kinda having a hard time working up to it... Linking my main points and scenes is always a little hard for me. Anyone who's actually been reading this, thank you! It means so much. Please be patient. <3

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. ^_-