InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ What Matters the Most ❯ What About Him? ( Chapter 45 )

A/N: Lol, this chapter I’m switching back to two of the other characters and just kinda having fun, so hopefully the little Inu/Sess break will be nice. For the chapter, anyway. ^_^

Anyway, I found out a little while ago something I found to be rather interesting: at 2 minutes and 3 seconds after 1 today, the time/date was officially 01/02/03/04/05/06 and it’s never going to be that again in our life time. I just thought that was a kind of interesting fact. ^_^

Oh, also, there’s some mild move 1 spoilers in here (basically just mentions of one of the characters and what he can do) so if you haven’t see that movie... well, go watch it before you read the chapter or risk it anyway. ^_^

Crazy-Inuyasha-Girl - Lol, well we’ll see! ^_^

-Kye - Oh, I understand where you’re coming from. I agree, more often then not they do make them the mate’s and it’s all WAF and just plain and simple perfect. I am really much more of an angst person (as you should be able to tell) so that’s why I even thought to come up with the idea of the pups being Naraku’s. Yeah, you were right, Inu was weak during the attack, but there are lots of ways I could explain that. It could’ve been an effect of naraku’s miasma, or maybe all the stress he’s been under, or maybe the heat fading away, or maybe even an after-effect of a half-demon mating with a full-demon. There’s no real definite sign that he was pregnant then now is there? If there is, please let me know so that I can go and annihilate it. ^_^ Hopefully what I do won’t screw everything up though... ^_^ -- And I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. Your english was just fine. Better even than some english-speakers I’ve met. Probably better than mine. ^_^   ~*~   What about him?

‘So what about him?’ Rin asked, pointing over at a tall youkai with bright blue hair and strangely greyish coloured skin.

‘Who?’ Shippo asked, looking around until finding the demon she was pointing at. ‘Lord Hotaka?’ He asked with a small frown. ‘Oh, you don’t want him. Trust me.’ He said, with all the authority that one of his age could possibly muster.

Rin let out a small breath of agitation and looked around.

‘Okay, then how about him?’ She pointed toward another demon.

Shippo’s eyes again followed her finger, and then widened slightly. ‘Are you kidding? He has “mated” written all over him!’ The young kit exclaimed as though she had just committed some sort of blasphemy.

Rin cast him a slightly dark look. Honestly! How was she supposed to know which of them were mated or not?

They’d been at this on and off for nearly three weeks now (though it seemed like a lot longer, despite the constant coming and going of new youkai), and seemingly hadn’t gotten anywhere, other than to eliminate most of the demons here. If they didn’t find someone soon, they’d have to expand their search to elsewhere, which would mean they wouldn’t be able to find anyone before Naraku was killed. And, while at first it had been fun, it was quickly beginning to loose it’s lustre. Especially since Shippo didn’t seem satisfied with anyone he saw.

‘What about him?’ She pointed to a demon with bluish-turquoise hair and long red antenna coming out where eyebrows should have been .

Shippo shook his head almost immediately. ‘Lord Menomaru is a moth.’ He said simply, as though that simple fact explained everything about why the kit was eliminating him so quickly.

The expression on Rin’s face clearly said it didn’t.

Shippo sighed.

‘Moth’s don’t like wind. It makes it hard for them to fly. Besides, he lives really far away from here, on the continent. It’d be nearly impossible to visit.’

‘Oh.’ Rin said, sounding slightly disappointed. The guy wasn’t that bad looking... as far as demons went anyway. But he was in desperate need of some sun in her opinion.

Shippo just shrugged. ‘You wouldn’t have liked him anyway.’ He said. ‘He gains power by gathering the souls of others and then absorbing them and his father’s power into his body.’

Rin blinked, and then grimaced, before turning back toward the demons milling about the grounds, none aware of their silent spectres as the ningen and kit almost instantly fell back into their routine.

‘How about him?’

‘Too short.’

‘Him?’

‘Too old.’

‘Him?’ She pointed to one with long black hair.

Shippo gave her an exasperated sort of look. ‘Do you really think a hanyou would be a good idea?’

Rin groaned in frustration and clutched her hair in her hands, before continuing on anyway.

She was determined to do this.

Even if it meant that she had to endure hour on end of this kind of torture, then so be it.

‘Okay... so how about him?’ She asked, unknowingly drawing the attention of another in the area, beside the kitsune.

Kouga stopped in his tracks at the sound of the familiar voice, his ears twitching minutely, and he frowned slightly, listening.

‘Naw, definitely not.’ Another voice chimed in, this one slightly higher in pitch, but definitely a male’s-- a child’s most likely.

Kouga, without a seconds hesitation or thought, turned and began heading the direction of the voices.

After a few steps, Rin’s familiar scent reached his nose, followed by a more-than-audible sigh.

‘What’s wrong with him?’ Rin demanded, sounding irritated for some reason. Kouga’s frown deepened.

‘What the hell are they talking about?’ Ran through his mind, followed quickly by ’What the hell are they doing?’ As the ningen and her companion finally came into view.

The girl and kitsune kit were lying on the grass, pressed low on the rise of a small hill, peering at the demons passing by and looking fairly disgruntled.

Curious and amused, Kouga stalked slowly up behind the two as they continued their little “argument,” never aware of his presence until he was standing right behind them.

‘Hey.’ He said loudly, not able to keep the grin from his face as he watched the next series of events unfold.

Rin let out a loud gasp and swung around to face him, very nearly rolling onto and crushing Shippo, who let out a loud squawk, and jumped out of the way, only to trip over Kouga’s foot and very nearly roll down the hill. The kitsune was up in a flash, however, and quickly darting to hide behind Rin.

‘Lord Kouga!’ Rin whispered, relaxing slightly, but not much. She hadn’t seen him since their kiss, and wasn’t certain how to react or behave around the wolf. ‘You scared me.’

‘Pointing out the obvious.’ The wolf said, crouching down beside her, a cocky grin on his face as he stared at her. ‘So, you want to explain to me why you’re scoping out all these youkai with a kitsune child?’ He asked.

Rin flushed slightly, but didn’t drop her gaze.

‘Well, if you must know, I’m trying to find a potential mate for my sister, Kagura, since she won’t bother finding one on her own. This seemed like the best place to start.’

Kouga cocked an eyebrow.

‘So you just thought you’d select one of the guests at random and see how well it went?’ He asked. Rin frowned, then gave a small nod. ‘And you thought it would actually work?’ The wolf asked, seeming caught somewhere between shock and amusement.

Rin’s frown deepened and a slight flush crept back up her face as she stared at the wolf suspiciously.

‘What do you mean?’ She asked. ‘Why wouldn’t it work?’

Kouga’s eyebrows very nearly met his hair as he donned a frown of his own and glanced around until his eyes landed on Shippo, who was still cowering behind Rin, not seeming to like the presence of the wolf prince at all. ‘Didn’t the kit there explain it to you?’ He questioned.

‘Explain what to me?’ Rin asked.

Kouga turned back to her. ‘A demon can’t simply have their mate simply chosen at random.’ He said slowly. ‘They have to have some sort of compatibility before either’s youki will even consider the other as a potential mate. They have to find one another worthy. For the beta mate, the alpha would have to have a youki stronger than their own, but not so much so that they found themselves in a position where they were weak, vulnerable, and unable to defend themselves in need be. Where as an alpha would be looking for one with a level of power similar to it’s own, but still low enough that the mate would have the desire to be protected by the alpha’s youki. That way there won’t be as much of a power struggle.’ He glanced at the youkai walking around, before turning back to her. ‘All these demon’s have different strength in their youki levels. Only certain ones will be in your sister’s range. Once you find them, then your sister’s youki would have to actually begin and call out to the other and see if they would answer. That’s why humans and demons don’t mate very often, nor lower and higher level youkai. A youki will rarely call out to one of much lower or higher strength than it. And, since human’s do not have youki’s, they have to have immense spiritual power and very strong wills to ever even begin and attract a demon to them. If you’re sister’s youki deems the other’s here unworthy, there is not a chance in hell she will ever be even remotely interested.’

‘Oh.’ Rin said, taking in all of what the wolf had just said with ever lowering levels of hope. ‘I guess that means that Inuyasha and Sesshomaru’s youki’s were calling out to each other all along.’

Kouga offered up a small snort.

‘Doesn’t surprise me. Sesshomaru is Daiyoukai material. It would be nigh on impossible for him to find a mate of his strength level. The mutt seems pretty strong as well-- strong enough to stay alive in a battle with his brother, I imagine, but not strong enough to dominate. It would definitely intrigue a demon like Sesshomaru. Especially since his youki has probably been searching for several hundred years and has come up empty.’ That said, Kouga shifted around, and then spread out on the grass next to her.

Rin stared at him a moment, shocked-- both by his actions and his words-- and then said ‘So why didn’t you go after Inuyasha? When he was in his heat?’

Kouga frowned slightly, and then shrugged. ‘The mutt isn’t my type.’ He said, rolling over and propping himself up on his elbows, clearly deeming that to be the end of that topic. ‘So what type of demon is your sister, anyway?’ He asked.

Rin considered a moment. ‘I’m not entirely sure.’ She said slowly, ignoring the raised eyebrow look Kouga gave her. ‘She’s mixed-- wind and spider I think-- but she seems to favour her wind heritage.’

Kouga gave a small nod. ‘There aren’t a lot of wind demons left... you probably won’t find one. We’ll have to search for a breed that won’t clash with here, which means almost all insect and bird demons are out. ‘

Rin blinked at him. ‘So... you’re helping us then?’ She asked. Kouga shrugged in response. Rin gave another frown (something she had been doing quite a lot lately). ‘But won’t Ginta and Hakkaku worry?’

Kouga looked over at her, and let out a small scoffing noise. ‘They probably don’t even know I’m gone. Besides’ he turned back toward the other youkai. ‘The scenery is much better out here.’

Rin flushed slightly, uncertain how to respond to this.

However, it seemed she did not need to, because Kouga had turned his attention back to the demons, and so she let it drop, falling silent as the three of them continued to look for potential mates for her sister, Rin feeling acutely aware of the wolf’s presence next to her.

What might have been minutes or hours passed before Kouga, who had brought a hand up to shield his eyes from the sun, suddenly lifted it and pointed it out at some place in front of him.

‘There!’ He announced loudly, with a vaguely smug note behind it.

Rin frowned. ‘You just said all that stuff about youkai calling out to each other, how can you be so sure...’ Her voice trailed off as she looked at the demon before them, a small gasp escaping her lips as she took in the man’s appearance. She couldn’t believe how much like Kagura he looked...

So similar, and yet... so different...

‘I can’t be sure.’ Kouga said softly, his breath whispering across her ear, making her shiver. ‘No one can be sure until they have met and mated one another. But every youkai has their instincts. Mind are telling me that he is definitely a mate worthy of your sister. And I think the kit might be feeling that too.’

Rin cast a small glance at Shippo, who was staring at the demon with a look of scrutiny on his face.

Rin held her breath and waited for the kit to make up his mind.

After a moment, Shippo turned toward her, a slight frown of something akin to disappointment on his face, and Rin felt her own face starting to fall.

‘Yeah, I think he might do...’ The kit said after a moment. Rin blinked. Twice. And then her eyes widened incredibly.

‘Are you serious?’ She asked of the picky kit. He gave a small, solemn nod, and Rin stared at him a moment, then a large smile fell across her face.

‘Great!’ She said excitedly, looking back at the demon. ‘Now all we have to do is find someway to introduce them...’ She trailed off and considered this a moment. How the hell would she ever get Kagura to play along with this? Or that demon?

She gave a small shake of her head.

Wasn’t important right now.

She had found a potential demon for her sister... she could worry about the rest of the plan later... ~*~  

Glossary

Youkai - Demon

Hotaka - This is just a passing OC. The word “Hotaka” is actually the name of a mountain in Japan.

Ningen - Human

Hanyou - Half-Demon

Kitsune - Fox

Youki - A Demon’s Aura or Demonic Energy

Daiyoukai - Great Demon