Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Anything For You ❯ Deadly Maiden ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer:  I don't own YYH or Inuyasha!

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Deadly Maiden

            Three days. He had been searching for three whole days. He could not understand why he had not given up yet. After all, a lone human girl would no doubt die in a wilderness infested with youkai. So why was he still searching? The answer eluded him. He knew, without hesitation, that he did not actually care about the girl's well-being. She could very well be dead or alive. It was the same to him.

Yes, that's what he had been trying to tell himself for the past three days. He had reminded himself countless times that the only reason he had not killed her yet was because of the promise he had made. However, somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew it was a lie.

            His never-ending thoughts and arguments were severed when he felt the air surrounding him cackle with a familiar, but powerful jaki. "Yomi," he whispered as the youkai materialized in front of him from seemingly out of nowhere. "What are you doing here?" he coldly asked, narrowing his golden eyes by a fraction.

            "Youko-sama," Yomi began while slowly pulling out a crumbled, blood-stained letter from within the folds of his clothes, "this is from Kuronue. He was attacked yesterday night and he returned in the worse of conditions. It is his wish that you read this letter and quickly return back to our territory."

            "How is he now?" the kitsune asked monotonously, feigning indifference, while accepting the letter that Yomi was offering him.

            "He's healing quickly, but a youkai that can injure him so severely is surely not one to be taken lightly." Yomi replied. "Kuronue worries a great deal for your safety, Youko-sama." he added as an afterthought.

            "You may leave." At Youko's obvious dismissal, Yomi gave curt nod before melting back into the surrounding forest. When he was positive Yomi was out of seeing range, Youko hastily tore open the letter and scanned the contents. He was slightly dismayed to find several droplets of Kuronue's blood littered across the parchment. Finding his interest piqued, he quickly read the letter.

            Dear Youko,

            Where have you been? You sly fox, leaving without a word! I can't believe I actually believed you when you said you were going to visit your dear, old, dying mother. Yes, yes, I don't want to hear your lame excuses. Even an idiot knows that it doesn't take THAT long to visit anyone. So where did you get the idea you could fool me - the genius? I guess you could say you and you mother had a lot of catching up to do, but then, you were never particularly fond of her, to say the least.

            Anyway, being the good friend that I am, I worried for your safety, though I knew it was unnecessary. I patiently waited and waited for your return. As time drew on, I became fed up with your lack of presence. So, I finally decided to go look for your sorry hide. I left in the morning that day, intent on locating you within two days at the most. I was going to drag you back kicking and screaming if I head to! But, that night, my goal was ruined.

            Under the moonlit sky, I saw something burn an unnatural red. I became really curious and decided to take a quick  look. After all, I had reasoned, what harm could it have done to me? What I saw was something most unexpected. There, a girl, who looked neither human nor youkai, sat weeping in a broken-hearted manner. Her whole body seemed to be aflame, yet it did not harm her.

            As I moved closer to her to examine this strange occurrence, she turned her blood-red eyes towards me. She whispered something I could not understand. Before I knew it, I was lost within her gaze, which held a powerful trance. I struggled against the unknown power for how long I wasn't sure…but when I was finally free, I realized that the ground I stood on was shaking in a most unwelcoming manner.

            It shook for a good five minutes before it cracked! Flames erupted from the earth and shot skyward. Immediately, my wings caught on fire. It was at that moment, the girl decided to scream a whole lot of nonsense, causing the fire to burn with a passion. While I was scorched within the heat, she seemed to embrace the warmth.

That night, I fled for the first time in hundreds of years. That girl was as dangerous as any potential youkai. The sadness that first radiated from her calls for sympathy and understanding, but once you have fallen for that…her sadness ebbs into indescribable hatred.

            I write to you, my friend, to warn you of her. Do not take her lightly. There is not much that is known of her. I do not know the limits of her power, nor do I know what her intentions are. I apologize for not telling you this in person, seeing as I'm being hounded by the palace healer. Even as I write, she is looking over my shoulders…guess what? She had just threatened to skin me alive!

            Ha, I can't even move a muscle without her screaming. Honestly, I'm fine now. I'll be walking and jumping again by tomorrow morning. Though I believe I won't be flying until the day after tomorrow. Such a pity too, since I prefer flying over walking on land. As you have probably already guessed by now, the real reason I wrote this letter and asked Yomi to take this to you was to ask you to return NOW. It's just so boring without you, you know?

-         Kuronue

"This is definitely from Kuronue." Youko mused aloud. "No one, but him, would dare to speak to me in such an obnoxious manner."

After a few seconds of silent contemplation, he came to an unspoken conclusion. Schooling his face back into an emotionless façade, he crumbled the letter in his hands before venturing west. He figured since Kuronue was fine, he could always visit him at a later time. Hopefully, Kuronue would not be too furious about his deliberate journey to the west.

Either way, he was not returning for an honorable and noble cause. Yes, but who was going to believe that he, Youko Kurama, would be traveling to search for a wretched girl who could not obey the simplest of orders?

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            "…stupid, good-for-nothing…" Inuyasha grumbled under his breath as he raced through the forest floor towards the western domain. "Who does he think he is? It's like Inuyasha come here! Inuyasha go there! Inuyasha do this! Inuyasha do that! What do I look like?!? His servant?!?" he growled. "Sometimes he really pisses me off with his better than you look!"

            So lost within his malicious thoughts, he barely had time to avoid colliding with a young, female human, who was unfortunate enough to cross paths with the irritated hanyou. "Hey, watch we're your walking wench! I could have impaled you! Don't you care about your stinking life? Stupid, be more careful!" Inuyasha yelled, his mood turning for the worst with each passing minute. "Hey, are you deaf?!? I'm talking to you!!!" he screamed at the young girl, who had her head bowed the whole time. "LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M TALKING, WILL YA?!?"

            The girl complied by tilting her head upward. Inuyasha stuttered in surprise when he realized that a stream of tears was coursing down the girl's cheeks. "H-Hey, w-what are y-you crying for? Just don't do it again, okay?" he asked, softening his voice. Truly, he hated seeing women cry. He could face countless demons and beat the crap out of each one, but when a girl cried, he was truly at a loss.

            "Inuyasha, can you stop moving your mouth for a moment?" she asked. Inuyasha's jaw literally dropped open as the girl closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around his waist. He stiffened when the girl buried her face into his chest and began to sob, soaking his fire-rat kimono with her tears.

            "W-Whoa, hold just a damn second!" he yelled, grabbing the girl's arms. "How'd you know my name? Plus, you don't just go around hugging and snuggling a stranger! What were you thinking, idiot?!? If I wasn't in a good mood (sort of), I'd rip off your head!"

            "You resemble him." she replied, causing Inuyasha to crease his forehead in confusion. "You look like him." she explained, causing Inuyasha to become even more puzzled. "He's cold and uncaring, but I miss him so much. I don't think he likes the human species, that's why I ran away. But now, I wish I hadn't. When I came back to my sense, I couldn't find my way back to him!" she softly wailed.

            "WHAT?!?" Inuyasha yelled in horror, his eyes the size of saucers. "How did you ever manage to fall in love with that icicle? Keh, he'd kill you first before he'd even think about considering your love."

            "You know him?" she asked in a hopeful voice.

            "Yeah," Inuyasha growled, narrowing his eyes. "He's my older, egotistical half-brother!"

            "Really?" she asked hopefully. "Take me to him, please!" she begged.

            "Are you crazy?"

            "I don't care, please?"

            "He'll kill you!"

            "He's protected me for the last few months!"

            "WHAT?" he shouted with disbelief. He touched the girl's forehead before asking, "Are you delusional? He's a cold-blooded killer!"

            "Don't talk about him that way!" the girl yelled, harshly shoving the hanyou away. Inuyasha twitched at the girl's sudden change of attitude and personality. He couldn't help but silently wonder where the sweet, gentle girl he had just been conversing with went. His ears flattened against his skull as she continued to yell at him in a more than angry tone. "I'll find a way to kill you if you do. I'm eternally grateful that you tried to save me from my village, who was as going to burn me alive, but I will not stand by and allow you to bad-mouth my lord." she finished, fisting her small hands. "Do you hear me?!?"

            "What do you think? You've only been screaming for the last hour! Yeesh, anyway, I thought you looked familiar!" Inuyasha shouted. "What was your name again? Kagoni?"

"Kagome."

"Look, I'm sorry I couldn't save you from the silver fur ball, but I'm not going to allow you (no matter how crazy and stupid you are) to walk to your death by asking me to bring you to him!"

"Don't insult him!"

"I didn't!"

"You just did!"

"Did not…and you really love him, don't you?"

"Yes…please, please, help me find him!"

 "Trust me; he'll kill you without a second thought!"

            "HE WILL NOT!"

            "HE WILL TO!"

            "WILL NOT!"

            "WILL TOO!"

            "WILL NOT!"

            "Why am I even talking to you?" Kagome asked, brushing past him. "I'll find him myself (anyway, I think I like getting lost too!)."

Inuyasha closed his eyes in aggravation before yelling, "It's unsafe for a human to be wandering this forest! I'll drop you off at the next…" he trailed off when he noticed Kagome was already gone, "village." he finished. "Damn," he hissed before rolling his eyes. "Why do I even bother?" he growled before turning off course to look for the missing girl.

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            "WILL TOO!"

            "WILL NOT!"

            Youko halted as two arguing voices drifted to his sensitive ears. One of the two voices, the feminine one, sounded oddly familiar. Deciding to investigate, he moved towards the direction of the noise. Before he had moved more than a few yards, a familiar girl bolted past him.

            "Kagome," he coldly called, stopping the girl in her tracks. The next second, before he even had the time to comprehend what was happening, he found that said girl had latched on to him like a leech.

            "I'm sorry I left without saying anything!" she began. "I had this really, really scary nightmare so I ran away! When I was thinking clearly again, I was lost. I couldn't find my way back." she softly rambled.

            Youko wasn't sure if he was going to sigh in relief or roll his eyes at the girl's stupidity. He settled for neither as he looked impassively at his crying charge. "Let's go, you've already taken several days off my original course."

            "You mean you came here to…look for me?" Kagome whispered, startled. Youko did not give Kagome the pleasure of his reply. Instead, he scooped her into his arms and leapt into the air. Instinctively, Kagome wrapped her arms around his neck as they gracefully soared across the sky at a break-neck speed.

            She could not understand why they were traveling by air, but she was not about to complain about her fortune. She gently laid her head against Youko's chest and closed her eyes. She was ecstatic to be in the kitsune's arms again, but she could not help but secretly wished that it happened more often. 

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            After searching the entire forest for the girl, with no luck, Inuyasha grudgingly returned to his original destination…the road to the western palace. To say he did not want to go was an understatement, seeing as he kept trying to come up with excuses to not go. For instance, he would stop to drink water and rest every ten minutes. In addition, he took every opportunity to help the humans he met that requested for his aid (which would probably shock any one who knew him to death). Then, Inuyasha took it a step further by willingly volunteering to help the "unfortunate" humans who did NOT want nor need his help.

Though a part of him did not want to go to the western palace, which was his home, another part of him did. While he disliked his older, half-brother with an indescribable passion, he did want to see his father and mother. Much to his chagrin, he realized he could not even remember what his parents looked like.

But still, there was always the obstacle of his icicle-like brother (half-brother). Though his half-brother had never physically abused him (much), his very presence taunted him. After all, his half-brother was everything he was not. His half-brother was powerful, the first-born…and a full-blooded youkai, something that he had always desired to be.

            Before he knew it, he had arrived at the front gates of the palace. Not long after, he found himself being led into the palace by the guards. He held his breath as the guards announced his arrival. Almost immediately, he found himself in his mother, Izayoi's, embrace. His face turned beet-red when his father and half-brother walked in on his reunion with his mother. He quickly pushed away from his mother, earning a knowing smile from his parents. 

            "What took you so long, Inuyasha?" his father, Inutaisho, boomed.

            "Got side-tracked by this human girl…" Inuyasha answered before he had even realized he was replying to his father's question.

            "Oh, really?" asked Izayoi. "Bring her with you next time; I want to see if she is suitable for my little boy." Inuyasha's faced burned a bright red at his mother's quick assumptions.

            "K-Keh, I barely know her!" he growled. "Anyway, she's totally infatuated with Sesshoumaru." he added, turning his attention to his half-brother. Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow and looked at his younger half-brother as if he was demented. Inuyasha could not help but smirk.

            "Explain yourself, half-breed." ordered Sesshoumaru, causing Izayoi to wince at the degrading title. Inutaisho growled a warning to his elder son, but Sesshoumaru did not pay his father any attention. Inuyasha bristled at being called a half-breed, but wisely did not reply.

            "She was crying on and on about how she couldn't find her way back to you. She said you had protected her for the last few months and that kind of lovey-dovey crap." Inuyasha taunted. "When I said you were a cold-blooded murder (which you are), she nearly bit my head off defending you! She even threatened (as weak as it was) to kill me if I bad-mouthed you ever again!"

            "Do you want to talk, Sesshoumaru?" asked Inutaisho, inclining his head towards the palace library. "It's about time you found a mate."

            "She must be a really sweet girl if she was able to worm into your heart." Izayoi smiled, happy that her step-son found a girl worthy of his attention. "Inuyasha, now you MUST introduce me to her. Wait, no, Sesshoumaru has to introduce her to me and Inutaisho!"

            The whole time Izayoi and Inutaisho were talking about a new addition to their family, Sesshoumaru had schooled his face into a cold, blank expression (which covered his unspoken confusion). "This Sesshoumaru hates and will always hate all humans." he snarled, throwing a disdainful glare towards Izayoi. "Hanyou, do not go around spreading rumors that are untrue…or you won't live to see tomorrow's sun."

            "Sesshoumaru!" admonished Inutaisho, but Sesshoumaru had already returned to his chambers.

            "It's all right, dear." Izayoi softly replied, placing a comforting hand on her mate's arm. "It's all right."

            "Anyway, why did that b…why did Sesshoumaru send me a message ordering me to come back here immediately?" asked Inuyasha, scanning the interior of the palace he had lived in when he was a pup. Nothing much had changed, he noticed. It was as if time had stopped just for him…

            "We were worried for your safety." Izayoi whispered, snapping Inuyasha out of one of his rare musings.

            "Keh," Inuyasha snorted. "I'm fine…and I doubt Sesshoumaru was worried for MY safety."

            "Either way, a strange rumor has been spreading that an unidentified, fire-controlling being has been slaughtering humans and youkai alike at night! Though it was only a rumor, your mother wanted you within the safety of the palace walls." Inutaisho explained.

            "Keh, I would have been fine!"

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TBC~

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