InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Way Back When ❯ Chapter 4

AN: Yo! How's it going? In this chapter, we finally get to read some of Inuyasha's tribe's language. It's not a real language, and it has no grammatical structure, and words will probably change. If I, by some stroke of insane coincidence, make him say a word that is... offensive in another language, please remember that they are not talking in that language. It is a made up language, and it was not made to offend you. K! Thanks! ^~^

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any related characters. I now own a copy of the game Black and white, by Lionhead Studios. It's really cool, but the graphics kind of suck. It was $10 and not really worth suing me over.

ON WITH THE FIC!

~*Chapter 4*~

**Dream**

Kagome smiled brightly as she walked in the door to her house. She had had a good day at school, she didn't remember going, and she didn't know what she did. But she knew, like all people in dreams know, that she had a good day. So this put her in a very happy mood.

"Kagome, dear. You're home! How was your day?" exclaimed Mama.

"Great! I had a good day," replied Kagome.

"Well that's great dear. M'ate, ko we ne habate?" asked Mama.

"Huh?" Kagome asked. Like most people in dreams, she was not aware that this was a dream; but also like most people in dreams, she accepted the strange and unnatural occurrences that happened. If a flock of hens were to walk by on the fence outside, she would probably not even give them a second glance. That's why when her mother came over with an agitated face on, pulled a pot of water out of nowhere, and began to pour it on her head while saying "Ko we ne habate?" it didn't really bother her. What did bother her was when her mother threw the pot, which had changed into a large, heavy, metal frying pan, on the floor, making a loud noise and jarring her out of her fantasy world.

**End Dream**

It was dark. It was cold. It was raining. It was thundering. And there was a very frightening person kneeling over her.

"AHHHHHHH!" Kagome screamed. The figure looked around panicked, trying to make calming motions and looking frantically around. Sango jumped up when Kagome screamed, and looked to find the girl backing against the wall away from a soaking, white haired figure.

"Souwe! Souwe," the figure whispered and put his fingers to his lips.

Sango was confused. She had been woken up from a dream involving someone stroking her forehead, saying "Violin, violin" in an oddly soothing voice. If that wasn't confusing enough, the ducks trying to impersonate dogs on a turning wagon wheel, being spun by a giant frog with boxing gloves was enough to put anyone out of sorts. Sango looked at Kagome and tried to piece together the fragments of her jumbled mind. Villagers, trials, witches, ropes, Kagome, dogs, sleep. Ah, yes. Now she remembered. But wait, what was that white haired person doing here? He was dressed like the savages that liked to raid the villages. Sango got very nervous. What if he was here with the rest of them, and wanted to kill them? She knew that she could defend herself if it came to fighting, but what about Kagome? The girl had been nice to her, after all. It did not go unnoticed that she had been given the larger pile of thatch to sleep on, so Sango felt that she owed the younger looking girl.

Sango struck up a fighting stance and charged at the intruder. He somehow sensed her presence and dodged her swing. Not missing a beat, Sango changed direction and aimed a high kick at his head, which he dodged. Sango threw a quick succession of kicks and punches at him, which he kept dodging. It was amazing. If she wasn't so frightened then she would have wondered how he managed to avoid her blows. Eventually, Sango backed him up into a corner. Her eyes narrowed as she surveyed him. He wasn't even trying to fight back! He didn't even look like he wanted to touch her. He had his hands up and was waving them in front of his face in a peaceful gesture.

"What does he want?" asked a quivering voice from the other side of the hut. The white haired man made shooing motions to Sango indicating that she should back up. She stepped back a couple of feet, and when he made no move to attack, she stepped back more, but didn't relax. This could be a trick after all.

Kagome watched as the white haired man walked in front of her and sat down a few feet away; facing her with his legs crossed. He had his hands still up in front of him, trying to display his intention for peace. He slowly lowered his hands to rest on his knees. Sango stepped closer, reaching out a hand to tap the stranger's shoulder to get his attention. His gaze, which had been trained on the frightened girl, snapped onto Sango. He leaned away from her hand, shaking his head as he frowned.

"I don't think he wants to touch us," said Kagome, earning her the intense gaze of their unexpected visitor, and her fellow captive.

The stranger suddenly held up a hand. He pointed to himself, then shook the finger back and forth in a 'no' gesture. Then he brought up his other hand and touched his finger to it. He gave them a significant look, repeating the action exaggeratedly and hoping they didn't think he was talking about his wrist. Then he pointed to Kagome and, after considering for a moment, Sango.

'The life of this other girl is at stake too. Maybe I should bring her along, as well. It will give Inuyasha's woman some companionship,' Inutaisho thought.

"I'm pretty sure he's trying to say that he won't touch us," Kagome said, calming down when she saw that he meant them no harm.

"Kagome, we can't trust him, he's a savage, an Indian. They raid villages and rape women," Sango said vehemently. This could all be a ploy to get them to trust him, and then when they were out of the village, he would attack.

Inutaisho gave the older girl an annoyed look. Inuyasha's woman was just starting to calm down and trust him, and then that other bitch had to go and say something that got her nervous again. He could smell the fear start to creep into her scent again. Damnit!

Inutaisho held up his hands again, attempting to communicate with the skittish women. He gestured outside, and then slid his finger across his throat. When he met only blank, yet slightly more frightened stares he sighed. This wasn't going as well as he had hoped. He cleared a spot on the floor and drew an angry stick figure person waving something that looked like a pitch fork. Then he drew several more. He pointed to his drawings, and then he gestured outside. Then he pointed to the girls and slid a finger across his throat again.

"I think he's telling us that the villagers want to kill us," said Sango, when Kagome was still trying to puzzle out the stranger's message. The rain poured through the holes in the roof and continued to drench the girls. Kagome; who had fallen through a well, been attacked by angry villagers, had to pull a Houdini getting free from those VERY tight ropes, had to sleep in her cloths on smelly hay, and was now soaking wet; was not in a good mood. So it was understandable, at least to her conscience, when she snapped back, "Well we already know that."

Inutaisho didn't know if they understood or not, but he decided to continue anyways. Misunderstandings could always be cleared up when they learned to communicate better. He stood up and walked to the entrance, then turned around and beckoned them to follow. Kagome stood up to follow, but was held up by Sango.

"What the heck are you doing? He'll rape you and kill you as soon as you're out of the village!" Sango screamed.

"Well, I figure that since I'm going to die if I stay here, anyways, I might as well. He seems peaceful enough, so there's a chance that you're wrong," replied Kagome as she freed herself from Sango's strong grip.

What Kagome said did make sense. If they stayed in the village, they would be burned. hands down, end of story; but if they went with this strange visitor, there was a chance that they could be saved. But why was this savage rescuing them? He couldn't have just been passing by and decided to rescue them out of the goodness of his heart. He wanted something, but what could it be?

Kagome followed the stranger into the downpour; outside stood a horse with a loose bridle. The stranger led the horse over to a stump and indicated that she and Sango, who had just decided that she would go along too, should mount the horse.

Kagome had a little trouble. She had only seen a horse when her family would drive by a farm on those occasional trips to the more open countryside. She had never been within ten feet of a horse, but she saw enough movies to know how to get on one; but they all had saddles....

Kagome stood on the stump and faced the horse. Its back was just even with her shoulders. 'This shouldn't be so hard,' she thought. She put her hands on the horse and jumped a bit to pull herself up. Her hands started to slip, so she shot out a leg to drape over the horse's rear. The result was that Kagome was draped over half of the horse with one leg hooked onto its back, and the other dangling in the air. Using great effort, she pulled herself up to straddle the horse.

Inutaisho was beside himself with amusement. The girl was an absolute amateur! Even children whose head barely reached the horse's withers, with the stump, could mount a horse with more grace than that. She probably couldn't ride then. Damn- they'll be going slower then he expected, which means that he'll be too late to catch up to the tribe before they start the long march south, away from the cold winter temperatures of the north. Double damn.

Sango got onto the horse with practiced ease. She sat in front of Kagome; judging from the foolish way that she got on the horse, she didn't know how to ride, which wasn't too surprising. Most of the village women didn't, and those that did rode sidesaddle. But Sango was not a proper lady, and you couldn't ride sidesaddle with no saddle and a horse slick and wet from the rain.

"Grip the horse with your knees. If you start to fall, hold onto me," Sango warned Kagome.

'Then again, maybe we won't be so late after all,' Inutaisho thought happily. He started walking out of town, gently leading the horse by the reigns; the rain still falling in the darkness around the trio, each lost in their own thoughts. One, hoping that she wasn't right about their rescuer's intentions; one hoping to get dry and warm soon; and one hoping that his son would not hurt him too badly when he arrived.

~*~

"Pacing will not make your father arrive sooner, Inuyasha. Besides, you're getting me dizzy."

"Keh," Inuyasha scoffed at the shaman. He was seated at the base of a tree a fair distance away from the stirring camp. Tents were being taken down and folded neatly to be attached to the owner's horse/mule/donkey. Fire pits were being cleaned; belongings were being packed, and stowed safely away for the upcoming journey. The tribe was moving south.

The shaman's violet eyes glittered dangerously as he shot out his staff, adorned with various talismans, to entangle into the legs of the irate hanyou, causing him to take an impromptu dive to the ground.

"Dammit Miroku! What the fu** was that for?" shouted Inuyasha.

"You were making me dizzy with you're incessant pacing," said Miroku simply.

"Pathetic weak human," Inuyasha muttered as he sat up to gaze in the direction that his father had left.

*BONK*

"Ow!" yelled Inuyasha as he rubbed the growing bump on his head. He shot an extremely annoyed glare at the monk who settled his staff back against the tree.

"Just because you are impatient, doesn't mean that everyone has to suffer," Miroku said calmly as he shifted his position to avoid a tree root that was digging rather painfully into his leg. "You're father hasn't even been gone for very long."

"He has too," was the pouty reply. "He leaves for Gods know how long, to gods know where, only days before we head south, and doesn't even fu**ing return in time for the march."

"He must have his reasons." said Miroku calmly.

"And I don't like them. He's never gone off and not told us where he was going before. That means he's plotting something."

Miroku shook his head at his friend, a smile barely concealed behind his placid mask. Only years of knowing the hanyou allowed him to see through the peeved exterior his friend was putting up. They had grown up together, Inuyasha was the Chief's son, and Miroku was the son of the previous Shaman. When his father died, the chief had taken care of Miroku like a son, and he and Inuyasha had grown up like brothers.

Miroku looked up to where Inuyasha was gazing out down the hill that they were situated on.

"Well, speak of the devil," said Miroku. Down the hill, just emerging from the line of trees was Inutaisho. He looked annoyed, dirty, damp, and all in all, like he had had a very bad trip. He stomped up the hill to Inuyasha, looking angry enough to make the turtle that held the world on its back quiver in fear.

The boys were so fixated on the approaching Inu youkai that they did not notice the two women trudging out of the woods behind him. Inutaisho approached the boys and looked at Inuyasha with a frown.

"I hope you're happy. You don't know the frustration I had to put up with for your benefit," Inutaisho growled.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Inuyasha demanded. He hadn't done anything! No wait..... Nope, nope, and nope. Yeah! What did he do to get his father so off at him?

"Never mind," Inutaisho grumbled. Inutaisho had a very stressful couple of days. First, there had been the storm that turned out to be worse than expected. It had caused a flash flood that they had just barely escaped. Then the horse had gone and stepped in a gopher hole, rendering the thing useless, and almost falling on top of Inuyasha's woman. Then, if the fates hadn't been cruel enough to him, they had to be attacked by the neighboring tribe. It had been a rather bloody battle. He had won, of course, but the women were rather traumatized. Add this to the general feeling of discomfort, and you had one ticked off demon.

The girls were in much worse shape than Inutaisho. Kagome's shirt was in tatters, barely covering her. Her shoes were flopping and rendered almost useless; her pants were shredded from thorns and brambles, and caked with blood and mud from that horrible battle. She still couldn't get the image of those lifeless bodies out of her mind. She was cold and hungry and tired. Their 'savior' only let them rest when they collapsed form exhaustion, only let them eat when they passed a bush with something edible on it, barely let them stop for...necessities- and it had been one heck of a puzzle to get him to understand her request with out looking foolish or stupid. Actually, Kagome was worse off than Inutaisho; she didn't have demon strength or abilities, so she was nearly collapsing from exhaustion.

Sango had faired little better. She was in excellent shape, but even she couldn't travel for so long with little sleep and less food without feeling the affects. Her skirts were extremely heavy in the rain, making her wish that she had a pair of those light breeches that Kagome wore, despite the added chill she would get. The lack of food and rest was making her dizzy and she was cold, damp, and dirty. Her other cloths faired better, due to their tough make, and numerous layers. Her blouse wasn't bad. Her outer skirt was beyond repair, and her shoes were barely still on her feet. Both girls were exhausted and when Inutaisho stopped to talk to someone, they didn't much care who it was, as long as they weren't attacking, and they looked friendly enough. All they cared about was the fact that their strange traveling companion had stopped, so they took full advantage of the fact and promptly collapsed on the ground once they had gotten within ten feet of him.

By the time the girls had reached Inutaisho, they had been noticed.

"Oi, Dad. Who are they?" asked a suspicious Inuyasha. Inutaisho turned to notice the sprawled forms on the ground.

"They are the reason why I was gone. I would tend to them, but I would like to change out of these cloths, burn them, and get cleaned up. If Miroku would take her," he said, pointing to Sango, "and you would take her," pointing to Kagome, "and put them somewhere where they can rest, that'd be great."

Inuyasha and Miroku nodded and went to the women. Miroku picked up Sango, grunting at the dead weight; and Inuyasha picked up Kagome to sling her over his shoulder and headed back to Camp.

"Oh, Inuyasha, Miroku. Take good care of them. Since you were the first to touch them, they're you're responsibility. Miroku knows all about that, Inuyasha, so he should be able to fill you in," said Inutaisho as he walked away leaving two silently gaping boys in his wake.

It was several moments before Inuyasha regained the ability to speak. "What the fu**!!" he cursed.

"It seems you were right," Miroku said, just barely coming out of his own shock. "Inutaisho was plotting something."

~*~

The rain pounded on the roof of the small home where the Higurashi's lived, the winds blowing and howling in the cold night air. The weather seemed to echo the inhabitants of the house. Ms.Higurashi listened to the police officer at the door, the lights of his cruiser flashing in the background. Souta hovered behind his mother, clinging to her leg, tears coursing down his face.

"M'am, we've searched the entire wooded area, and the surrounding town. She's nowhere to be found. We'll continue the search, but it's highly doubtful that she's still even in the state right now." Ms.Higurashi nodded and a strangled sob escaped her throat. First her husband, then her father had died. Now, her only daughter had gone missing. Souta buried his face in his mother's leg and let loose more ragged sobs that shook his small frame. The police officer shook his head and shifted from foot to foot. "I'm sorry, M'am, but that's all we can do right now." Ms.Higurashi nodded and closed the door against the torrents of rain. She bent down and embraced her son, her only child now, and they both cried for the wonderful daughter and sister that they had lost only days ago...

AN: Well, that's the fourth chapter. I hope you like it. I need ideas for some fluff (incidentally, I call filler fluff. So, yeah some people get confused by that). So read and review, and the more you review, the faster the next chapter comes!!! ^~^