InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Twist of Fate ❯ A Few Days Later ( Chapter 8 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter Eight: A Few Days Later

Story: Twist Of Fate

By: Sky

In a hidden side room of the palace, two creatures talk quietly, even though the room is warded against ease-droppers and sound-proofed.

"I don't understand," remarked InuTaisho, sitting back in his chair. "Velkir large enough to carry away humans, and bold enough to attack Exterminators? Last time I checked, Velkir lived in the mountains and shied away from most creatures, most of all humans. And I don't think Exterminators even know they exist."

"There is something going on InuTaisho. I don't know what yet, but I don't like the smell of it."

"Picked up something in the air Karamina?"

"No, but my fur is prickling. I suggest keeping your pups close to home until we can find out what's causing this. I know Sesshomaru is grown and able to make his own decisions, but he himself may be in danger of this. I must go for a bit and try to find out what is causing this disturbance."

"Word has it you caught the apprentice Exterminator, and are currently holding him."

"Word apparently travels faster then my paws."

"You know the dangers of keeping him Karamina. The Exterminators will not like it."

"Yes, but his master is currently kidnapped. What are we supposed to do with him running around getting lost and hurt? He'd just become a nuisance, and the youkai on these lands would be half tempted more to kill him then they already are now. Besides, if the Velkir come back after him, we know they're not striking randomly, and that someone is controlling them."

"Using him as bait then."

"Slight bait. I have him guarded so that nothing can happen to him while he is unconscious. We might still need him for later."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

InuYasha sneezed violently, and woke up. He was still laying on the cavern floor, but the sunlight had changed, and the silver kitsune was gone from the cave entrance.

"Damn," he spat, sitting up and back on his feet. "What the hell happened? What did that damn fox do to me?"

"That damn fox might have just saved your life," growled a voice from the entrance. InuYasha was on his feet in half a heartbeat, but when he reached for his weapon he realized it wasn't there. A moment of panic flashed through him, but he quickly suppressed it. If there was one thing he remembered, it was Sango telling him that youkai could tell your strongest emotion by your scent. And when you were fearful, depressed, or panicky, it drives them wild. Of course, at that time, InuYasha hadn't believed her, but he was starting to believe many things since he had gotten here. InuYasha's eyes roved, trying to find something that he could use as a weapon.

"You don't need to look for something to defend yourself with boy. While you're here though, you aren't getting this back." There were footsteps from the right of the entrance, and a figure padded into view.

InuYasha couldn't help but stare. He couldn't quite describe what was standing before him. It looked like a cross between a fox, a dog, and a wolf. It had the sort of a wolfish face with foxish features, fox-type perked ears, the strong build of a dog, the paws of a wolf, and a tail with long wavy fur cascading from the top to about five inches below it like a curtain. And in its mouth, was his blade.

"Hey! Give that back!"

"Not while you're here, you aren't getting it," replied the creature around the blade in its mouth.

"Then let me out of here then." The creature shook his head.

"Sorry. Not allowed to. Besides, I wouldn't want to anyway. I like you better in one place. Easier to catch." The bluish-yellow-brown eyes glowed with a feral light, and InuYasha suddenly felt very trapped.

"Guthrow, stop threatening to eat him," came a voice from the left. Guthrow turned to face the silver kitsune padding into the clearing, fur ruffled by the breeze.

"Sorry Karamina. I couldn't help it."

"I'm pretty sure. Now set that down and get going." The creature ducked his head, placing the weapon on the ground before him, and turned and went out of InuYasha's sight. InuYasha contemplated going after the blade, but he knew he would never reach it in time, and it might be deadly for him, so he kept his ground, just like Sango had taught him. 'Huh. Maybe Sango did teach me a thing or two.' The kitsune sat down at where the blade was lain, and looked at him.

"Well, did you sleep well?"

"What the hell did you do to me?"

"Just needed to keep you in one place for a time. Don't worry. Nothing happened to you. Guthrow made sure of that."

"What the hell do you want with me?"

"Well, you were originally bait to see if those creatures would come after you next. But since that didn't happen, now I don't know what to do with you. We can't use you to get the things, and we can't let you roam around without your mentor…"

"Don't think I can take care of myself?"

"You're hardly trained in dealing with youkai. You don't smell like you're from around here, meaning you would be lost in an hour, and the local wildlife would have a meal out of your bones."

"I can still handle myself if it comes to a straight-out fight."

Karamina tilted her head sideways, then turned to wash her shoulder. InuYasha growled in frustraition after she continued in silence for several minutes.

"Damn it. I don't think this is time for you to take a fucking bath."

"You are a very impatient boy, you realize that?"

"I'm. No. Boy."

"Oh, that's right. You're name is InuYasha. But yes, you are a boy to me." InuYasha growled a bit, then looked around.

"Where is that girl you're always with?" Karamina lifted her head, and flicked an ear in surprise. "You know. Not like it's any of my business or anything…" he finished lamely. Karamina flicked an ear back in recognition of his statement.

"She's stuck at home because of the incident with you and your companion. Now I need to figure out what to do with you."

"I'm no kid. I don't need a babysitter."

"Yes, but you are being trained by your Exterminator companion are you not? And I'm pretty sure you do not know what direction she was heading in."

"Well, no…"

"And I'm pretty sure you do not know her final destination."

"No, but…"

"So, we can't take you to a destination that we know nothing of, and we cannot leave you roaming about in the woods. So that leaves us with a problem. So until we find your mentor, or someone who might have known her, you are going to have to stay here."

"What! No way. I ain't stayin' her."

"Oh yes you are. And that is the end of it. If you don't know how to hunt, I'll leave Guthrow to do it for you."

"This is bull shit!"

"No, this is taking care of the problems. You, in one place, means we don't have to watch you wondering around. You, alive, means that if your Exterminator companion is found alive, the Exterminators will not be down our throats because we let you die. If in a few months, nothing happens, we'll find a way to get you back to your village, and that will be the end of it."

"I doubt if you could find it," he mumbled. Karamina perked a sensitive ear at his words, and filed that little tidbit of information away for later.

"Well, that is the plan. And we will expect you to follow it."

"So I'm just expected to sit here on my ass, and do nothing all day?"

"Precisely. You could always hone the skills you've been taught by your companion, or you could practice sewing up the tears in your clothing."

InuYasha growled and lunged at the kitsune. She didn't move a muscle, but as he got within 20 feet of her, the dog-wolf-fox creature jumped before him, teeth bared and snarling. InuYasha promptly stopped, and glared at Karamina.

"I wouldn't suggest doing that. Guthrow doesn't like when anyone threatens me. So, I suggest backing up a few paces." InuYasha met the ice-blue eyes of Karamina, and held them for several long moments. However, he found himself overwhelmed by her calm blue eyes, and he decided to back down with his dignity in tact.

"Feh," he remarked, and took two steps backward.

"Thank you. While you are here for a while, you will not be needing this." Her paw nudged the blade. "We will take care of it for you, and when you leave, you will get it back in the condition we took it in, if not a bit better condition." InuYasha turned his back to her, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm not going to stay here."

"Yes, you are. Even if I have to keep you unconscious the entire time." InuYasha turned to face her after she had given her light threat, and narrowed his eyes at her.

"I thought you had something to do with that."

"Yes I did. And I will have something to do with it again if you don't cooperate." InuYasha studied her for a few moment, then turned his back on her again. "I'll take that as a yes. I'll be by or someone else will be by to check on you later." Karamina turned her back to the boy, and walked back into the dense undergrowth of the forest.

"Karamina," a gruff voice called, and she turned to face Guthrow padding in behind her with the blade in his mouth. "Are you sure you're not going to knock him unconscious? He's going to be trouble. I know that already."

"As do I."

"Then why not knock him unconscious so that he doesn't become even more of a problem?"

"Guthrow, if I did that to you, when you woke up, what would be the first thing you would do? And what would your feelings be?"

"Well, I would be madder then a cadged wolf when I woke, and I would probably lash out at whoever was nearest, if it was a guard or looked like one."

"Precisely. You are a fighter. What I would have to do would be to wear you down to the idea of staying there. It would take time, and a bit of a struggle, but the result would be better. He's the same way. He's a fighter. You might have to chase him down, face him down, drag him back, and physically bar the entrance, but that's a good thing. For if he didn't do that, then you would have to worry about him scheming something, and that could get dangerous for both of you. He's also a young male, and is very bull-headed for it. You're going to have a chore on your hands. I trust you'll keep him out of trouble, and out of site."

"Keep him in the cave for how long?"

"Well, a few times, I'd let him think he's slipped past you, just so he can get his exercise. I'd do that every once in a while so he also doesn't get bored."

"Alright. I'll keep him busy. I take it you're going to have your own to attend to as well."

"Her father should be taking care of her. However, I can foresee leading back home more then a few times during her time of isolation."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

One Week Later

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Kagome lay with her legs propped up on the cool wall of her room. She was deathly bored. She would do about anything to be outside right now. She was tired of looking at the same walls each day. It had been early in the morning when her father had informed her of her confinement to the palace and it's gardens. She had tried get an answer out of him on why she couldn't leave, but he would only say there was a danger out there that she couldn't face, and that he wanted her safe. Karamina had been happy to find out though that her brother was suffering from the same confinement. She had actually conned him into playing a few of their older games together. Ever since he had declared himself a 'man', he hadn't played any of their old games with her. She was happy to have her brother back.

Now though, he was off studying in the library, and she felt too hyper to be able to sit in their and read. So she was in her room, trying to devise a plan of action. Then a thought came to mind about a conversation she had heard her father and Karamina having. Karamina had said something about the boy being confined in the cavern. Could it be the human boy she had met? Kagome's eyes lit with mischief. He was probably going stir-crazy as well, and she might be able to get him to agree to go out and explore with her. After all, Karamina hadn't forbid contact with him, and she hadn't said anything about him wanting to hurt her. Therefore, he must be a bit okay. With her scheme in mind, Kagome rolled off the bed, and snuck down the hall to the gardens.

Sniffing lightly, she could scent the location of each guard stationed at the garden, and what type they were. Good. This would be a particularly easy group to slip past if she played it right. Walking lightly on her feet, like Karamina had taught her, she crawled through some of the heavier shrubs to hide her appearance and muffle her steps a bit more. 'Oh right. Masking the scent. Have to remember that one.' Covering her scent as much as she could, and trusting the oils in the bush leaves to cover the rest of it, she continued forward. When she got near the wall, she started removing bricks, uncovering a small hole in the wall she had been working on for months.

She scrambled into the hidden passage in the wall that she had discovered when she finished the whole, and stalked down the path towards the far door. This door opened into a particularly dense patch of brush, and was only as tall as from her feet to her knees, so she had to get down on hands and knees to shimmy through the opening. As soon as she was through, she carefully closed the door, and waited for a time to make sure the guards didn't see her. As soon as she was sure she was clear, she dashed quietly into the forest.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

InuYasha paced through the forest, keeping his eyes watchful, and his ears on alert. Every sense was strained. He and Guthrow had had this confrontation before. The first time, the wolf-dog-fox creature had knocked him out and dragged him back. The second time, he had just dragged him back. The third time, he had shown himself first, before dragging the boy back. After that, he would appear only a moment before he would attack the boy. So InuYasha was trying to make sure that he wasn't going to get ambushed. He had to admit, this last week, he had been getting quite familiar with the sights and sounds of the forest.

When he had first ventured out, he had jumped at every little sound, or turned to face it. That had given him away every time, and many times he had heard a growling chuckle coming from somewhere in the woods. Now, InuYasha was starting to recognize what sound came from where and what made it. Here, a forest mouse scuttled through the dry-fall on the ground. A rabbit moved over there to scuttle under a bush because it had caught his scent. An eagle landed on a branch above. A squirrel leapt from one branch to another in a feat of aerial acrobatics. He knew what they were, and that they were no harm to him. What he wanted was to hear the soft paw steps of Guthrow.

He had spotted him once, looking at InuYasha from a dense patch of brush with his odd eyes. Their eyes had met, and Guthrow had backed off. This had been another unspoken rule in their game. When InuYasha actually spotted Guthrow before he attacked, he would back off and try again, letting InuYasha get a bit farther into the forest and farther from the cave; a sort of reward for his vigilance. Now, InuYasha was looking for the creature again, trying once more to gain on the small territory Guthrow had given him in the past week. However, when he looked up, he saw Guthrow standing before him. 'Damn. Lost again.'

"It appears, you are dead InuYasha. And I have claimed your territory."

"It appears I was too greedy in my territory, and should have stopped when I had spotted you before." Guthrow tilted his head in acknowledgement.

"Very good InuYasha. You are learning. That is good. I might let you keep some of your territory for that." InuYasha couldn't help but flush a bit with pride. He had never had a father, much less one that would really praise him. He hated to admit it, but he had gotten used to Guthrow this last week, even though they were always trying to match wills, and may have even had a start of a friendship. All InuYasha really knew was that when ever Guthrow gave him even a hint of praise, he flushed with pride. He was really starting to like the male that was guarding him. As InuYasha started heading back to the cave, he knew Guthrow would go out and hunt for him. It had become the normal routine between the two. However, when InuYasha got to the cavern, he was not prepared for what greeted him.

The black-haired girl stood just inside the cavern. And in her hands, she was holding his sheathed blade.

"Tired of sitting around yet?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I can't stand being in one place so long. Are you the same way?" He looked right into her silver eyes, and she met his eyes right back.

"Are you challenging me?"

"Why? Aren't you up to the challenge?" His spine stiffened, and he felt his chin raise.

"Of course I am. I just have a guard that won't let me go."

"Oh, Guthrow? He's out hunting. Why? You afraid to get caught? Afraid of sneaking out with me?" That was it. No one went after him like that.

"Lead on bitch. I'll show you what I can do." Kagome smiled and tossed him his blade, then ran outside of the cavern, with InuYasha at her heals.