InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Torrent ❯ Summoned ( Chapter 42 )

~~Chapter 42~~

~Summoned~

 

“Kaze no Kizu!”

 

The burning waves pulsed away from Tetsusaiga, engulfing the centipede youkai. Seconds later, the acrid stench of burning flesh engulfed him, and InuYasha lifted his sleeve to cover his nose against the mind-numbing odor. The centipede dissolved quickly. InuYasha dropped his arm away as the black dust that remained of the youkai blew away in the wind.

 

The villagers gathered around to thank him. He mumbled his acknowledgement and turned away to sheathe his sword and hide his flush. He'd done this a thousand times, saved the fields from youkai of one form or another. It never ceased to embarrass him, to accept their thanks and praise.

 

Luckily for him, it was a lesser-youkai. Since the villagers were used to seeing InuYasha take out the beasts that plagued their village, they spent less time marveling over InuYasha's hasty dispatching before they headed out, muttering over how `lucky' they were to have such a powerful `guardian' in their village.

 

InuYasha shook his head as the villagers dispersed. Sinking back against a tree stump, a vague smile surfaced, tugging at the corners of his lips, deepening the golden color of his eyes. An easy sense of contentment filtered over him, and he marveled at how strange it felt to be happy.

 

The same claws that had branded him an outcast for so long, the same ears that had driven him from village to village in his youth, the senses that helped him to track and to destroy were the things that had earned him the grudging respect of those he offered protection. He stared thoughtfully at his razor sharp claws, and his smiled widened. Kagome loved his claws. Whenever he stroked her with them, she shuddered. Pulse pounding, heart racing, breathing stuttered and erratic, the claws that were able to wipe out foes were the same ones that brought his mate pleasure.

 

And Tajiko? The smile widened even more. His pup, his blessing, his silver and golden baby girl. She brought to bear a desire to shelter, to protect, to nurture her in such a way that InuYasha hadn't really gotten to have. His mother had done the best she could. Without the protection of his father, however, Izayoi had failed, in the end, and had left InuYasha alone to live or die. As a child he'd wandered, lost and alone, though occasionally Myouga would pop up to suck InuYasha's blood and to generally make a nuisance of himself.

 

So it had been, for years. In the beginning, he'd searched for a place to belong, for someone who'd accept him, for anyone who would take him in. The first days, he remembered, he'd watch a family of humans nearby. The mother was always hugging her children, letting them draw comfort from her. She'd reminded him of his own mother. She'd brush the dirt off his knees when he fell, would wipe the tears from his cheeks when he cried. Then too, he remembered the fear on the woman's face, as he'd stepped cautiously out of the forest. The woman stared at him in horror, and her words were as clear in his mind as they had been that day, “Youkai! Help me! Spare my children!”

 

He flinched. Why did those words from the nameless woman still bite him? How did they have the power to hurt him now, so many years later? Doubtless the woman had died long ago, victim of illness, of time, of circumstance. It was the last time InuYasha had tried to approach a human for protection.

 

But the youkai he'd encountered were always so much worse. Cold by nature, unable to grasp the range of human emotions, InuYasha had been warned by his mother so many times to avoid drawing their notice. She had been right. There had been too many times that he'd run away, escaping by dumb luck or by managing to crawl into small places where the youkai couldn't reach him. There had been a couple of times that he'd been knocked out, times that he hadn't had the chance to run or hide. One of them---a bear youkai---had rendered him unconscious with a swipe of her mighty paw. When he awoke, the beast lay dead at his feet. He never had figured out what had happened that day, nor later, when he had been attacked by a snake youkai. Trailing after a familiar scent---one he'd only come to realize later belonged to Sesshoumaru---the snake had ambushed him. He had never been clear on what happened then. He woke up later with a stabbing pain in his neck but otherwise no worse for wear. The snake, like the bear from before, was dead by his feet.

 

With a shake of his head and a heavy sigh, InuYasha snapped out of his reverie and pushed away from the tree. `What are you standing around reminiscing for?' he berated himself. `Your mate and your pup are waiting for you, and you know you'd rather spend time with them than standing around here remembering things best left forgotten.'

 

A shift in the breeze stopped InuYasha in his tracks. With a low growl, he paused, hand on Tetsusaiga's hilt, and waited.

 

Ah-and-Uhn, Sesshoumaru's dragon youkai, lit on the ground, blowing great gusts of wind from their two heads. Jaken sat up straight and proud and condescended to glare down his nose at the hanyou. “InuYasha,” he said, his tone as pompous and arrogant as that of his master. “Sesshoumaru-sama sent me to fetch you. He says it is urgent, and that you should come right away.”

 

InuYasha let go of Tetsusaiga to cross his arms over his chest while stabbing the toad-imp youkai with a bored glower. “And he thinks I'll just drop everything and hop to it? Fuck him. You can tell him I said that, too.”

 

Jaken huffed in righteous indignation, puffing his chest up further and basically looking pretty damn stupid, in InuYasha's opinion. That said, InuYasha turned to head back toward the village. “How dare you insult the great and powerful Sesshoumaru-sama!” the beast sputtered. InuYasha ignored him and kept walking. When Jaken finally noticed that he was getting nowhere, he sighed and shook his head. “My lord said that, should you refuse to answer his summons, I am to tell you that in doing so you will be dishonoring both your great youkai father as well as Sesshoumaru-sama, and should you dishonor them, then you shall then forfeit your mate and offspring.”

 

That stopped InuYasha. He whirled around to face Jaken as fire ignited behind his gaze. “Are you threatening Kagome?”

 

Jaken flinched. “Not I.”

 

InuYasha clenched his fists. “What does my `great and powerful' brother want?”

 

Jaken, relieved that InuYasha didn't seem to be trying to kill him off, shrugged. “I do not know. I only know he has asked for you to come.”

 

`Damn it! I hate letting Sesshoumaru think he can demand that I do a fucking thing, but he's cold-hearted enough that I know he would make good on whatever threats he's making---or he'd at least try. As if I'd let him hurt Kagome or Taji in any way . . . . Not while I'm breathing . . . .'

 

“I've got to tell Kagome,” he growled, jaw clenched tightly.

 

Jaken shook his head. “Sesshoumaru-sama was insistent that you come straight away.”

 

“He's pushing his fucking luck---”

 

“Your mate and child hang in the balance, InuYasha . . . .”

 

`Damned if that toad wasn't enjoying himself, too,' InuYasha thought darkly as he stomped over to the two-headed dragon. InuYasha hopped onto its back and grabbed Jaken by the skull, maneuvering the little beast over the ground before letting go. Jaken squawked as he landed in the dirt. “Fucking fine, then! You go to the village and tell Kagome. I don't want her worrying.”

 

Ah-and-Uhn took flight, growing smaller and smaller in the sky as Jaken screeched, hopping from one foot to the other in his righteous indignation. “I'm not that dirty hanyou's messenger!” Jaken fumed and he stomped down the road. “What do I care if his bitch worries over him or not?”

 

 

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