InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ When a door closes... ❯ The Dokueki ( Chapter 20 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Namiyo11 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Drama / Adventure / Action / Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 04.20.2008 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.7K | Visits: 215 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Drama / Adventure / Action / Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 04.20.2008 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.7K | Visits: 215 | Status: Completed
Chapter 20-The DokuekiNope, I do not own Inuyasha or make money from this! Seriously. I do own Yotogi and Kumori, though!
Recap: Our favorite group is dealing with wedded bliss, or falling short of it...and a certain youkai Lord frets. What happens elsewhere now? What about the Dokueki and youkai bands that have supposedly stopped bothering the Inu as much? Read on!
Lord Yotogi wasn’t happy. The bright-eyed Inu frowned, most displeased. His pack held one of the most strategic stretches of Inu territory, the farthest corner of the Clan’s territory. It was bordered by two tribes...lynx and past a tiny strip of their territory, wolf. The pack leader had two passions, one-keeping his land safely under his hand, the other-information gathering. Yotogi hated to do it, preferring to rely on his own pack and remain in his own territory...but this situation would require assistance.
Lord Sesshomaru would undoubtedly send it, but poor Lady Kagome. That female did not deserve such a sorrow. Yotogi was quite accepting of the hanyou, she’d done him a favor, killing a troublemaker in his pack when he had challenged her and saving him the trouble. A pity-and his Lord would likely not be very merciful to him for not knowing of this sooner, as he had family matters on his mind last he checked. His Lord’s scandalous hanyou brother and the charming packsecond. A successful force claim on an Inutaisho female! A great pity indeed not to have seen it, it would have been worthy of a trip away from his territory merely to have observed it with his own eyes.
Idly, he wondered how it should have been if the formidable Lady Kumori, Lord Sesshomaru’s mother, had lived, borne both of them. Yotogi wrung his clawed hands and tossed the speculative thought away as irrelevant. There was a more pressing issue. A dead Dokueki was currently polluting his lands. One with...odd traces of scent.
Wolf scent. Without wolf blood, or wolf fear...as though they had been together without combat. Little had been learned from his troublesome, worrisome neighbors once winter had set in and the youkai had banded together, cutting off the lines of communication...but he’d never have suspected them of working with those things!
But that was the only explanation that fit.
Lord Kouga was a brash creature, but not unreasonable when it came to the occasional discrete arrangement to benefit both Clans. He had not come seeking information or answers about the Dokueki, or sent scouts out for word of them. Yotogi would have heard of it. Wolves were scavengers, hardly above feral youkai, but as tightly united as any Clan could be. If the Dokueki had decimated their numbers, their supreme pack leader would have been trying to find answers and vengeance, unless he had them already or it was unnecessary. But, they despised the creature Naraku, and these things were of him! Unless Kouga chose to use them to weaken his neighbors, make himself Lord of all the surrounding lands, putting aside his anger at the filthy beast that spawned them for power. A winter of picking them off, then a sneak attack on weakened Clans-now that fit a wolf’s nature.
Scavengers fit only to take the easiest prey, wolves.
It would be their misfortune that they would find no easy meat here.
Why would he make such an attempt now though? Perhaps his mate advised it. Kouga had apparently chosen a female other than the Lady Kagome. One did mad things for a mate. His own dear Lady could drive him to distraction at times...word had reached Yotogi of that during the winter, a fragment of gossip, easily sorted into it’s proper place. A wolf female, Ayami, and Kouga together. Better that then a mere wolf suitor for a Lady of the Inu, at least, and he’d passed the news on to the premier pack as his duty required. As he would this. But in person. At least Lord Sesshomaru’s sibling was inu, anything else would be unacceptable for Lady Kagome...irrelevant! Yotogi chided himself and sighed, knowing he was delaying himself from going. But he had to.
One did not inform one’s Lord of the possibility of an impending Clan war by messenger. Not Lord Sesshomaru, at least-he took such things too personally. Not unlike Lord Inutaisho...but if this was war, well. Perhaps they would at last again have the Tetsusaiga’s assistance as well as the Hamayami‘s wielder.
He hoped they would as he changed into a full Inu and ran, loping towards his Lord’s castle.
After the winter’s losses-they’d need all the help they could get.
***
Several days journey from the castle of Lord Sesshomaru...and from the valley of Inuyasha, near the wolf youkai territories...
A small female figure watched as yet another of her Lord’s last, greatest creations went forth under the lash of her will. Only a few were left so she had to be careful. They had yet to breed successfully, and she would need as many as possible soon. These feints and raids were costly these days, but they had to feed. The Dokueki grew restless, difficult to control. A pity it had proved so hard, several had escaped, tipping her hand as they instinctively sought Inu or failing that other canine youkai to feed on by preference, or mere mortals. Besides, they desired her as food as well after all. She had to perfect her skill and be ready. This one...had another special message to deliver to some old, dear acquaintances.
A few weak youkai milled about her, and she let their presence soothe her like the old days. Arms clasped in front of her, face lined with grief and effort, she closed her eyes as they whispered to her. The news made her frown, her spies, her servants...she was quite displeased with them. A leaf was taken from her waist, and it slashed through the slow to return youkai. A lesson to the rest as she paced, working out her options. Too late to call back the Dokueki! No! She could barely keep them under some semblance of control and send them out in the right direction, much less haul them back!
So. Kagome was tucked behind a barrier with her dear little Inu hanyou panting at her heels. Lovely. Her latest message would not reach it’s proper recipient if she was locked away! But...perhaps something could be salvaged. It would feed on the nearest youkai or mortals, and return.
She’d kill one in front of the other after they mated, it would amuse her, just as she would the other pair. Inuyasha and Miroku would be first to die, most likely. They had been secondary targets this winter and didn’t know her pets. She’d been busy mastering the Dokueki, learning how to control them, readying her weapons and learning all she could of her enemies’ new locations, habits, and in one case...new abilities. Testing and probing, she’d learned much, if at great cost. She was running out of time, and tools.
But they would all pay. The ex-human bitch, her pet hanyou bastard, the sad little brotherless slayer and the perverted monk. Sesshomaru. Kouga. Most especially Kouga, and that dear little bitch of his-now literally, not that he knew that. Oh yes. Payment in full would be taken for daring to steal the jewel, cleansing it of it’s dark beauty, using it on the bitch, and most of all, last and first of all...for slaying her Lord, her master, teacher...mate.
Naraku.
The worst and best day of her life had been the one that she’d met him, when he‘d bested her and captured her two years ago. Worst, in that the foolish child she’d been hadn’t understood, had feared...best, in that her beloved had soon opened her eyes to truth. Taught her, trained her, and eventually mated with her. She’d wished to learn the secrets of the Jewel of Four Souls, to earn her weak-willed former love’s heart back from the pathetic human miko who’d stolen it. Her search had caused their paths to cross, hers and her Lord and love. He’d taught her well, and at last, before he was ripped from her, had marked her-because wolves, they mated for life.
Though she didn’t know it, and wouldn’t believe it if told, when Kanna had been reabsorbed after becoming-unreliable, Naraku had decided to ensure his last youkai servant’s total loyalty and servitude for life, twisting the most intimate symbol of love and devotion between youkai to do it. Naraku had understood that youkai lived for mates, killed for mates...and died for them sometimes. And that he would share his power with no creature. Perhaps it would have been kinder to have killed her first, instead of waiting until he’d completed his planned transformation, holding her as a last surprise tool...but Naraku had never grasped the concept of mercy. Or of not playing too cruelly with his pets. Besides, marking her had saved him the trouble of using a jewel shard to control her. He’d needed them all at the end.
His mate hadn’t understood why he’d ordered her not to follow him into battle that day, when he would be revealed in all his glory as a full youkai. She’d been eager to prove her worth to him! No chance now, but she...she would avenge him. She fingered a spider shaped mark on her neck and sighed, wanting to howl her grief. She had, too briefly, been the mate of one of the greatest youkai ever to walk the world, and now...was alone. Horribly alone. She’d died with him that day, would join him as soon as her work was done, her vengeance extracted...go to the afterworld with joy, her path paved by the blood of those responsible for her loss. Perhaps...
She considered-and nodded. It would still work. The plan would succeed, it had to. They had all been so wrapped up in their own petty problems that her little gifts had been ignored. As had her chosen territory's handy location. She thought they’d kill each other after going to such lengths to frame Kouga as master of the Dokueki! Even to planting tales she was his mate to keep them off balance, cutting off the Wolf Clan from the world, making sure to have it so none could know for certain what was happening here. So they would come to her, and she could finish them all after they turned on each other. But...they would not ignore this message. They could not!
Until then, she had to prepare. It would be time to feed another Dokueki, so she’d send her former love a reminder of her. A token.
Ayami, wolf youkai, packless, mateless outcast, driven away from the tribe she now used as a hunting preserve...smiled a bright, mad smile.
***
The next day...
“Get ready!” Kouga yelled, running, leading the damned serpent along the pass. His faithful packmates were above, nets and spears ready...and they leaped! Killing these bastards was hard, too many wolves had been lost this winter, too many friends...the brash wolf lord looked worn after months of relentless assaults on his people. The lynx that had once buffered their territory from the Inu were all but wiped out, the Dokueki had been hungry. Damned smug Sesshomaru! Probably wasn’t having a problem with them. Not that he’d know, Naraku’s old youkai had all but cut off the mountain territory they held this winter in a series of well planned raids. Little got out, little got in. That bitch! He’d kill her himself slowly, then leave her to rot in the sun.
Naraku’s last servant, his nemesis. Ayami.
The female he didn’t know he was rumored to have mated to as he worried about his woman. Kagome. He’d be able to go to her soon, when it was safe to bring a human female to the mountains. Kouga hated having to trust the muttface with her safety, but his duty to his people held him here. But soon he’d kill the bitch, all the Dokueki-and finally-after waiting so long...
Bring his intended mate home at last.
***
“You are certain?” Sesshomaru asked as he sat in his audience hall, gazing at the Lord kneeling before him.
“Yes, my Lord. Every nose could smell it. I see no other explanation.”
“It will be dealt with. Go.” Was the cool order, and he signaled the audience was ended with his hand.
He ordered Jaken to pack and make ready as he swept out, and to inform the surety that he expected them ready to leave within the hour. They had to stay under his hand until the courtship was complete, and he-must investigate. Must prevent a costly conflict before it began, his Clan was in no condition to fight one, he would risk no other lives in one unless there was no choice-he’d learned from that costly lesson from the Panther youkai. But only one Inu would know how best to judge this...and she was unfortunately...
The mark on his brow pulsed a moment, his eyes widened...and...NO! The packbond!
Sesshomaru’s eyes turned red and everyone in the area tried to back away.
Kagome was in danger. Her life was threatened...he knew it! BAKA! He would go to her side-save her-and kill the one responsible. Inuyasha. But not before the surety was executed in front of his little brother. They. Would. Pay.
‘I hold your life...and will use you wisely...you are my kinswoman, under my protection...’ he had failed her...his error! NO!
Author’s Notes- Surprise! I hope, anyways. Now, you obviously can tell this was written before the manga story arc where we finally meet the Sess-Mama. At the time, everything was open to speculation. Also the one armed thing. But, that’s what an AU is for, I guess.
I know, Apparently Kouga chose Ayami, didn’t he? Amazing how rumors get thought of as truth. Kagome certainly thought he did in chapter 14, in the winter, when everything sort of slows down and people don’t move as much in a non-industrial society. And Ayami? Well, she ran off bound and determined to learn about the shards, and no one who entered that hunt ever had an easy time of it, did they? And I did mention the Dokueki were coming from near the wolf territories and that they’d show up again.
A note on Sesshomaru. If you haven’t seen the ‘plot of the Panther divas’ episodes then you aren’t getting the reference here, basically, there was a Clan war, or at least, it looked like one, and quite a few youkai were killed. I suspect this led to the real reason he always refuses aid from others, it’s a responsibility he’d rather evade if he can. That’s just my take of course, since all of the Inu are so obsessed with the theme of protecting something. Serious guard dogs. As to the wolf references, well, inu are domesticated, so to speak, and wolves aren’t. It makes sense they’d not like each other and Inu would see wolves as low lifes as it were.
A note on names again. Yotogi means watcher. Kumari? Shadow. In any case, thanks for reading! -Namiyo’
Recap: Our favorite group is dealing with wedded bliss, or falling short of it...and a certain youkai Lord frets. What happens elsewhere now? What about the Dokueki and youkai bands that have supposedly stopped bothering the Inu as much? Read on!
Lord Yotogi wasn’t happy. The bright-eyed Inu frowned, most displeased. His pack held one of the most strategic stretches of Inu territory, the farthest corner of the Clan’s territory. It was bordered by two tribes...lynx and past a tiny strip of their territory, wolf. The pack leader had two passions, one-keeping his land safely under his hand, the other-information gathering. Yotogi hated to do it, preferring to rely on his own pack and remain in his own territory...but this situation would require assistance.
Lord Sesshomaru would undoubtedly send it, but poor Lady Kagome. That female did not deserve such a sorrow. Yotogi was quite accepting of the hanyou, she’d done him a favor, killing a troublemaker in his pack when he had challenged her and saving him the trouble. A pity-and his Lord would likely not be very merciful to him for not knowing of this sooner, as he had family matters on his mind last he checked. His Lord’s scandalous hanyou brother and the charming packsecond. A successful force claim on an Inutaisho female! A great pity indeed not to have seen it, it would have been worthy of a trip away from his territory merely to have observed it with his own eyes.
Idly, he wondered how it should have been if the formidable Lady Kumori, Lord Sesshomaru’s mother, had lived, borne both of them. Yotogi wrung his clawed hands and tossed the speculative thought away as irrelevant. There was a more pressing issue. A dead Dokueki was currently polluting his lands. One with...odd traces of scent.
Wolf scent. Without wolf blood, or wolf fear...as though they had been together without combat. Little had been learned from his troublesome, worrisome neighbors once winter had set in and the youkai had banded together, cutting off the lines of communication...but he’d never have suspected them of working with those things!
But that was the only explanation that fit.
Lord Kouga was a brash creature, but not unreasonable when it came to the occasional discrete arrangement to benefit both Clans. He had not come seeking information or answers about the Dokueki, or sent scouts out for word of them. Yotogi would have heard of it. Wolves were scavengers, hardly above feral youkai, but as tightly united as any Clan could be. If the Dokueki had decimated their numbers, their supreme pack leader would have been trying to find answers and vengeance, unless he had them already or it was unnecessary. But, they despised the creature Naraku, and these things were of him! Unless Kouga chose to use them to weaken his neighbors, make himself Lord of all the surrounding lands, putting aside his anger at the filthy beast that spawned them for power. A winter of picking them off, then a sneak attack on weakened Clans-now that fit a wolf’s nature.
Scavengers fit only to take the easiest prey, wolves.
It would be their misfortune that they would find no easy meat here.
Why would he make such an attempt now though? Perhaps his mate advised it. Kouga had apparently chosen a female other than the Lady Kagome. One did mad things for a mate. His own dear Lady could drive him to distraction at times...word had reached Yotogi of that during the winter, a fragment of gossip, easily sorted into it’s proper place. A wolf female, Ayami, and Kouga together. Better that then a mere wolf suitor for a Lady of the Inu, at least, and he’d passed the news on to the premier pack as his duty required. As he would this. But in person. At least Lord Sesshomaru’s sibling was inu, anything else would be unacceptable for Lady Kagome...irrelevant! Yotogi chided himself and sighed, knowing he was delaying himself from going. But he had to.
One did not inform one’s Lord of the possibility of an impending Clan war by messenger. Not Lord Sesshomaru, at least-he took such things too personally. Not unlike Lord Inutaisho...but if this was war, well. Perhaps they would at last again have the Tetsusaiga’s assistance as well as the Hamayami‘s wielder.
He hoped they would as he changed into a full Inu and ran, loping towards his Lord’s castle.
After the winter’s losses-they’d need all the help they could get.
***
Several days journey from the castle of Lord Sesshomaru...and from the valley of Inuyasha, near the wolf youkai territories...
A small female figure watched as yet another of her Lord’s last, greatest creations went forth under the lash of her will. Only a few were left so she had to be careful. They had yet to breed successfully, and she would need as many as possible soon. These feints and raids were costly these days, but they had to feed. The Dokueki grew restless, difficult to control. A pity it had proved so hard, several had escaped, tipping her hand as they instinctively sought Inu or failing that other canine youkai to feed on by preference, or mere mortals. Besides, they desired her as food as well after all. She had to perfect her skill and be ready. This one...had another special message to deliver to some old, dear acquaintances.
A few weak youkai milled about her, and she let their presence soothe her like the old days. Arms clasped in front of her, face lined with grief and effort, she closed her eyes as they whispered to her. The news made her frown, her spies, her servants...she was quite displeased with them. A leaf was taken from her waist, and it slashed through the slow to return youkai. A lesson to the rest as she paced, working out her options. Too late to call back the Dokueki! No! She could barely keep them under some semblance of control and send them out in the right direction, much less haul them back!
So. Kagome was tucked behind a barrier with her dear little Inu hanyou panting at her heels. Lovely. Her latest message would not reach it’s proper recipient if she was locked away! But...perhaps something could be salvaged. It would feed on the nearest youkai or mortals, and return.
She’d kill one in front of the other after they mated, it would amuse her, just as she would the other pair. Inuyasha and Miroku would be first to die, most likely. They had been secondary targets this winter and didn’t know her pets. She’d been busy mastering the Dokueki, learning how to control them, readying her weapons and learning all she could of her enemies’ new locations, habits, and in one case...new abilities. Testing and probing, she’d learned much, if at great cost. She was running out of time, and tools.
But they would all pay. The ex-human bitch, her pet hanyou bastard, the sad little brotherless slayer and the perverted monk. Sesshomaru. Kouga. Most especially Kouga, and that dear little bitch of his-now literally, not that he knew that. Oh yes. Payment in full would be taken for daring to steal the jewel, cleansing it of it’s dark beauty, using it on the bitch, and most of all, last and first of all...for slaying her Lord, her master, teacher...mate.
Naraku.
The worst and best day of her life had been the one that she’d met him, when he‘d bested her and captured her two years ago. Worst, in that the foolish child she’d been hadn’t understood, had feared...best, in that her beloved had soon opened her eyes to truth. Taught her, trained her, and eventually mated with her. She’d wished to learn the secrets of the Jewel of Four Souls, to earn her weak-willed former love’s heart back from the pathetic human miko who’d stolen it. Her search had caused their paths to cross, hers and her Lord and love. He’d taught her well, and at last, before he was ripped from her, had marked her-because wolves, they mated for life.
Though she didn’t know it, and wouldn’t believe it if told, when Kanna had been reabsorbed after becoming-unreliable, Naraku had decided to ensure his last youkai servant’s total loyalty and servitude for life, twisting the most intimate symbol of love and devotion between youkai to do it. Naraku had understood that youkai lived for mates, killed for mates...and died for them sometimes. And that he would share his power with no creature. Perhaps it would have been kinder to have killed her first, instead of waiting until he’d completed his planned transformation, holding her as a last surprise tool...but Naraku had never grasped the concept of mercy. Or of not playing too cruelly with his pets. Besides, marking her had saved him the trouble of using a jewel shard to control her. He’d needed them all at the end.
His mate hadn’t understood why he’d ordered her not to follow him into battle that day, when he would be revealed in all his glory as a full youkai. She’d been eager to prove her worth to him! No chance now, but she...she would avenge him. She fingered a spider shaped mark on her neck and sighed, wanting to howl her grief. She had, too briefly, been the mate of one of the greatest youkai ever to walk the world, and now...was alone. Horribly alone. She’d died with him that day, would join him as soon as her work was done, her vengeance extracted...go to the afterworld with joy, her path paved by the blood of those responsible for her loss. Perhaps...
She considered-and nodded. It would still work. The plan would succeed, it had to. They had all been so wrapped up in their own petty problems that her little gifts had been ignored. As had her chosen territory's handy location. She thought they’d kill each other after going to such lengths to frame Kouga as master of the Dokueki! Even to planting tales she was his mate to keep them off balance, cutting off the Wolf Clan from the world, making sure to have it so none could know for certain what was happening here. So they would come to her, and she could finish them all after they turned on each other. But...they would not ignore this message. They could not!
Until then, she had to prepare. It would be time to feed another Dokueki, so she’d send her former love a reminder of her. A token.
Ayami, wolf youkai, packless, mateless outcast, driven away from the tribe she now used as a hunting preserve...smiled a bright, mad smile.
***
The next day...
“Get ready!” Kouga yelled, running, leading the damned serpent along the pass. His faithful packmates were above, nets and spears ready...and they leaped! Killing these bastards was hard, too many wolves had been lost this winter, too many friends...the brash wolf lord looked worn after months of relentless assaults on his people. The lynx that had once buffered their territory from the Inu were all but wiped out, the Dokueki had been hungry. Damned smug Sesshomaru! Probably wasn’t having a problem with them. Not that he’d know, Naraku’s old youkai had all but cut off the mountain territory they held this winter in a series of well planned raids. Little got out, little got in. That bitch! He’d kill her himself slowly, then leave her to rot in the sun.
Naraku’s last servant, his nemesis. Ayami.
The female he didn’t know he was rumored to have mated to as he worried about his woman. Kagome. He’d be able to go to her soon, when it was safe to bring a human female to the mountains. Kouga hated having to trust the muttface with her safety, but his duty to his people held him here. But soon he’d kill the bitch, all the Dokueki-and finally-after waiting so long...
Bring his intended mate home at last.
***
“You are certain?” Sesshomaru asked as he sat in his audience hall, gazing at the Lord kneeling before him.
“Yes, my Lord. Every nose could smell it. I see no other explanation.”
“It will be dealt with. Go.” Was the cool order, and he signaled the audience was ended with his hand.
He ordered Jaken to pack and make ready as he swept out, and to inform the surety that he expected them ready to leave within the hour. They had to stay under his hand until the courtship was complete, and he-must investigate. Must prevent a costly conflict before it began, his Clan was in no condition to fight one, he would risk no other lives in one unless there was no choice-he’d learned from that costly lesson from the Panther youkai. But only one Inu would know how best to judge this...and she was unfortunately...
The mark on his brow pulsed a moment, his eyes widened...and...NO! The packbond!
Sesshomaru’s eyes turned red and everyone in the area tried to back away.
Kagome was in danger. Her life was threatened...he knew it! BAKA! He would go to her side-save her-and kill the one responsible. Inuyasha. But not before the surety was executed in front of his little brother. They. Would. Pay.
‘I hold your life...and will use you wisely...you are my kinswoman, under my protection...’ he had failed her...his error! NO!
Author’s Notes- Surprise! I hope, anyways. Now, you obviously can tell this was written before the manga story arc where we finally meet the Sess-Mama. At the time, everything was open to speculation. Also the one armed thing. But, that’s what an AU is for, I guess.
I know, Apparently Kouga chose Ayami, didn’t he? Amazing how rumors get thought of as truth. Kagome certainly thought he did in chapter 14, in the winter, when everything sort of slows down and people don’t move as much in a non-industrial society. And Ayami? Well, she ran off bound and determined to learn about the shards, and no one who entered that hunt ever had an easy time of it, did they? And I did mention the Dokueki were coming from near the wolf territories and that they’d show up again.
A note on Sesshomaru. If you haven’t seen the ‘plot of the Panther divas’ episodes then you aren’t getting the reference here, basically, there was a Clan war, or at least, it looked like one, and quite a few youkai were killed. I suspect this led to the real reason he always refuses aid from others, it’s a responsibility he’d rather evade if he can. That’s just my take of course, since all of the Inu are so obsessed with the theme of protecting something. Serious guard dogs. As to the wolf references, well, inu are domesticated, so to speak, and wolves aren’t. It makes sense they’d not like each other and Inu would see wolves as low lifes as it were.
A note on names again. Yotogi means watcher. Kumari? Shadow. In any case, thanks for reading! -Namiyo’