InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Without Looking Back ❯ The Sound of Her Scream ( Chapter 4 )

The Sound of Her Scream

 

The young hanyou boy didn't sleep a wink that night. It gave him plenty of time to contemplate his feelings, something which he had been doing a lot lately.

 

It was an empty touch. It didn't mean anything, beyond the fact that he could sneak around and steal unwanted contact from a helpless girl. She didn't even know him, and he had touched her without regard for how she would feel about it, or how afraid she would be afterwards. His guilt weighed heavily on him for the rest of the day, and he refused to visit his goddess, as if in punishment.

 

He returned the following day, anxious for her comforting presence. When he watched her from afar, she warmed his heart and filled it with life. She was the only thing that made him smile.

 

His goddess was late. With dread settling into his stomach, he wondered if his asinine stunt had scared her away. He would never forgive himself if it had. The hanyou boy was just settling into despair when he heard something that chilled his blood.

 

The sound of her scream.

 

He had never heard her voice, but he knew it was her. He flew through the forest, his feet barely touching the ground, running faster than he had ever run before. He picked up her scent, and another mixed in, rotten, nasty, and dangerous.

 

Youkai.

 

Snarling to himself, the hanyou boy drove himself harder, pushing his tired legs to the limit. Then he saw her, stumbling through the trees in a blind panic, fleeing from the hulking monster on her heels. She tripped over a malicious root and fell, and the youkai moved in for the kill. It was a huge beast, many times larger than the hanyou boy, but the latter showed no hesitation as he charged in to almost certain death. His last thought as he leapt, claws raised, was the hope that he could buy his goddess enough time to escape.

 

With a mighty cry he flung his claws down into the youkai's belly. Rippling waves of energy exploded from his fingers, slicing the mighty beast to pieces and scattering its body to the winds. The hanyou boy stood amid the carnage, staring at his hand in amazement. An unfamiliar power flowed through his veins. He felt strong, like he wasn't just some ordinary hanyou, but someone destined for greatness. His body pulsed with youki, powerful and majestic, and he recognized it as his own. It was like meeting a long lost brother for the first time.

 

Eventually his youki subsided, but he could still sense it within him, its strength available to him whenever he needed it. He thought back to vanquishing the youkai, and decided that such a potent attack required a name. “Sankon Tetsusou,” he decided after a moment. A small whimper from behind him drew his attention, and after a deep breath to calm his nerves, he turned to face his goddess.