Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Evolution ❯ Fear ( Chapter 2 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Evolution
OooooO
 
When Kagome woke up the next day, away from the misty forest, she had merely thought her encounter with the youkai a strange dream. After all, how often do extremely pretty fox youkai present themselves to human women? Okay, so maybe he hadn't exactly presented himself, he had been resting, but the fact remains he allowed himself to be viewed and had not instead fled. Kagome inwardly scoffed at that thought. What kind of youkai with that power would flee from a mere human, and a female at that? `No one' Kagome told herself. In fact, she was almost surprised she hadn't been slaughtered then and there. But she supposed she shouldn't be complaining, after all, she was still alive. And that's saying a lot, considering what kind of personality that youkai could have had. `He was probably having a good day…' Kagome thought grumpily.
 
Kagome herself was most certainly not having a good day. After they began to move on, they continued until dark. The rain had held out long enough for them to have a half ways decent meal before it started pouring again. Kagome decided then she absolutely hated Japan's rainy season. The rain continued on through the night, and the shard hunters were never given a chance to dry off while they rested. In the morning as they were packing it was still raining. Kagome felt that one of them was most likely to get ill. Knowing her terrible luck, Kagome herself would fall sick. As if she had jinxed herself, Kagome sneezed loudly. And again, and again she sneezed. Sango glanced back in concern.
 
“ Kagome-chan, are you alright?” the slayer asked. Kagome nodded, holding her now plugged nose.
 
“ Un, I'm okay. Don't worry about me, let's keep going. We're almost to that village. We can rest there for a few days, just to make sure I'm not ill,” Kagome replied. Sango nodded back.
 
As the time crawled by slowly, Kagome had to keep reminding herself of the wonderful warm bed and hot bath she would get to have at the village just to keep her legs trudging through the pouring rain. Kagome really didn't want to whine about how tired she was, honest, but she was just so tired of all this rain! Kagome was usually fond of rain, and even played in it in her spare time. But now it was repetitive, and there was nothing interesting to watch. No one dared to carry on a conversation, since rain would only fill their mouths, and it's uncomfortably to talk in rain anyway, so no one spoke. Even the once thick youki mist was dissipating, thus no longer reminding Kagome of her dream like encounter and not causing her to ponder the strange mist.
 
“ Oi! I see the village just ahead! Let's keep moving guys, we're almost there!” Inuyasha called from the front. Inuyasha's words revived Kagome, giving her enough energy to make it to the village before she had to sit down. ` Just….ahead…almost there…' Kagome told herself. Sure enough, even with water in her lashes obscuring her vision, Kagome could see many huts clustered together, and fields in the distance, where after the rain, more crops would begin to sprout. It was most definitely a humble village, much like Kaede's, with probably only one supply shop for travelers and a tiny inn, unlike some places, with had many shops and stores and at least three inns for tourists.
 
The group traveled down a water slick hill towards the village, everyone relieved to know they were upon their destination. It had been a long haul through the forest to get to this village, even though there were no rogue youkai. The shard hunters stepped into the village, and Miroku immediately spotted the largest home. Everyone followed the striding monk, then paused behind him as he pounded on the door. They waited for awhile, and Miroku was prepared to knock again, when an old lady opened the door.
 
“ Hello, who are ye that knock on my door?”
 
“ We are travelers, we've come from the forest-“
 
“ Ye came from the Forest of the Silver Fox? He did not attack ye? Ye must be strong for the guardian to let you pass through his forest peacefully. Come, your journey must have been tiring,” the old lady beckoned them inside. Meanwhile, Kagome was pondering her words. `Forest of the Silver Fox? Then these villagers know of him? He really exists? But I thought it was just a dream! If he was the guardian, why didn't he attack us?' Kagome thought. A shiver trailed down Kagome's spine, and she glanced back at the forest. A faint mist still surrounded it, though at the edge of the forest, it was quite thin. Kagome squinted, swearing she could see a glint of silver, but dismissed it as rain. Turning, she followed the others inside the large hut.
 
It was a simple two room hut, as humble as everything else appeared to be. The first room they were in was no doubt the main room. There was a large pot overhanging a fire, and a wonderful smell was coming from said pot. There was also one futon already made in the middle of the wood floor.
 
“ The second room is the bath. Ye can leave your clothes here to dry,” said the old lady. Miroku began his thanks, but the lady waved it off.
 
“ It's been awhile since I've had company, no need to thank me,” she said. She turned to Kagome.
 
“ Interested in the Forest of the Silver Fox, are ye?” she whispered, her grin twisting her wrinkled face. Kagome flushed.
 
“ No need to be embarrassed. The guardian is a silver fox youkai, and he's thief. He steals from us, occasionally, but no one is ever harmed. We believe he does it out of pure amusement. When the forest is surrounded by that mist out there, that's when we know he is there. It is also when travelers are least likely to make it through his forest. He keeps youkai from attacking us, so we really don't mind that he thieves from us,” she finished. ` I guess this fox guy really must exist. But if he apparently is so violent over people in his forest, why didn't he attack us?' Kagome wondered.
 
“ Keh, whatever. We got through the damn forest and we're out of the damn rain. Sango, Kagome, you should both hurry and get cleaned up first. Miroku will set up the futons while we wait,” Inuyasha told the girls. They both nodded and entered the second room.
 
The bathroom was just as humble as the rest of the hut. It was a simple wood floor with a large bath tub. The tub was pushed up to a wall, so the person bathing could look out the window. Underneath the bath tub was a little compartment no doubt used to heat up the water. Kagome gasped.
 
“ Hold on a minute, Sango-chan! We forgot a spare change of clothes!” Kagome told her friend.
 
“ Ah, right! We did forget our clothes. Alright, I'll wait for you,” Sango replied. Kagome left briefly and returned with some clothes to change into. Stripping themselves, the two young women slipped into the hot bath. Kagome sighed in bliss as the water caressed her body lovingly.
 
“ It's been so long since we've had a good bath. I'm so grateful,” Kagome said.
 
“ I agree, it has been too long. It feels nice,” Sango sunk in deeper. Kagome started giggling.
 
“ What, Kagome-chan?”
 
“ I was just wondering how Miroku-sama and Inuyasha were going to fit in here,” Kagome answered. Sango chuckled.
 
“ That would be funny to see,” Sango said. The two girls started washing themselves, all the while they chatted, glad to be warm and out of the rain. After some time, they stepped out and allowed the men to clean themselves. Then Kagome fixed some ramen, pleasing the group to no end to have such a “delicacy”. Then they clambered into their futons, sleeping bags or leaned against the wall to go to sleep. And sleep they did.
 
It was in the dead of night that Kagome awoke, a forboding feeling tickling her stomach. Wriggling out of her sleeping bag quietly, she glanced around in the darkness, checking to make sure her companions were safe. Then she quickly scanned the area to see if there were in any shards. When that came up negative, the teenage girl decided to go outside. Tiptoeing, she snuck outside. Once outside, Kagome breathed in the night air, letting the cool wind brush her warmer cheeks. Kagome shivered slightly when a more violent wind passed her by. As it was summer, she was only dressed in a pale blue tank top and a pair of pale blue shorts that only went to her mid thigh.
 
After looking around for a couple minutes, Kagome slowly began to explore the tiny village. Then Kagome immediately noticed something amiss. There was no sound and the air held an unnatural heaviness. Kagome's shoulders shook as an involuntary shudder went down her spine. `Maybe I should go get Inuyasha…' Against her rational mind, Kagome continued on, finally arriving in front of the village temple. Holding her elbows and still shivering, she began climbing the long steps to the temple. When Kagome reached the top, she started checking her surroundings. Even if she hadn't, it would have been impossible to miss the silvery form at the top, his back to her. Even from behind, Kagome couldn't mistake the youkai. The way his long silvery hair danced behind him, his long, fuzzy tail, his large fox ears…This was definitely the fox youkai from before. So Kagome did the only thing she could do.
 
“ It's you!” she gasped.
 
OooooO
 
Even with their lack of violence, and destruction towards his forest and its inhabitants, Youko was still glad when the intruders had left. They traveled quickly, even during the rain. However, this did not necessarily mean they had bypassed the village. They had most likely taken shelter for the night. It didn't matter, they wouldn't be able to stop him.
 
Interestingly enough, Youko could use his youki in his raw form to do many things. The first thing was the mist, that proclaimed his presence and claimed all that was his. The second thing was that if one happened to be asleep, Youko could make the heaviness from his youki to ensure that the victims remained so. It didn't harm anyone, merely kept them asleep.
 
So it was of a great surprise to him to hear a girl's voice behind him. He distinctly felt his tail frizz in surprise. He had come to the village to steal a pretty looking locket from the temple that he had seen during his last visit. Youko supposed he was lucky. If the girl had been an adversary, she simply would have stabbed him in the back and not say a word. But she spoke, and alerted Youko to her presence. Inwardly, Youko sighed. He had been hoping to come and go without interference. But it appeared that he had been spotted, and there would be a confrontation. Still, Youko didn't feel a need to cause bloodshed. No, he felt…playful tonight. Slowly, Youko turned around.
 
He was met by the same human girl from earlier that day. She had changed out of her previous clothes, and into something much more revealing. She appeared to be a bit stunned, her blue eyes wide with shock. Youko raised a delicate eyebrow.
 
“ How interesting,” Youko spoke, his deep voice reverbating across the air between them. A shiver shook the girl's body and Youko found himself smirking. A flash of anger appeared briefly in the female's eyes before it vanished. Youko slowly stepped closer to the girl, slowly taking in her scent. As he began to circle her, fear slowly crawled into her scent. She, in turn, began turning so her back wouldn't face him. While Youko held her eyes, he found himself smirking wider, a pearly fang poking over his lip, as he spotted the utter terror in her eyes.
 
“ It's interesting that you should break free of my youki. Not only that, you found the strength to climb all the way up here, despite my youki hanging in the air,” he continued. He saw her throat move as she swallowed.
 
“ No one has ever done it before,” Youko said. They continued making circles around each other when Kagome fell backward on her rump, looking back up at Youko. She reminded him of a cornered rabbit. Youko stopped smirking and narrowed his eyes. Leaning down so that their noses were almost touching, Youko let his breath travel across her lips. In a whisper, he asked a question.
 
“ Tell me, how did you do it?”