Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Fighting Back ❯ The Search Begins in the Feudal Era ( Chapter 4 )

Tori the Hanyou: Wow, already chapter 4? This is crazy. Oh, I forgot to mention, the pairings are Tori/Hiei, and Kagome/Kurama

DISCLAIMER: Quit asking, no I don't

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Fighting Back

Chapter 4: The Search Begins in the Feudal Era

Kagome came marching back to the village, tears in her eyes. 'Why is Inuyasha playing dumb? He knows better than that, that jerk! He's just lucky I didn't 'sit' him all the way to America!' thought Kagome.

Tori came after her, stopping when they reached their friends. Sango came up.

"Did you two talk things over?" asked Sango. Kagome looked up at her.

"Yes, and I still don't plan to speak to him any more than that!" she said stiffly. Kurama looked questioningly at her. What had happened between them to give her such hard feelings towards him? He figured he'd ask her later. 'Oh, so she's available . . ,' came Yoko's voice. Kurama went inside his head. 'Why would you care if she was available or not?' he asked. 'Oh, come on, don't give me any of that shit, you find her attractive too. Remember, I'm in your head, and I know what goes on in here,' replied Yoko. Kurama felt himself blushing inwardly. 'So? I truly do not care. I would prefer to never speak about this again, but if you must persist, I would rather it be on better terms,' replied Kurama, ending the conversation.

"Yo, Kurama!" came Yusuke's voice. Kurama snapped out of it just in time to see that they were leaving. "Dude, I've been saying your name for a while. We're leaving." As they were walking down a trail that exited the village, Yusuke spoke up again. "What goes on inside that head of yours?" he asked. 'You don't want to know,' thought Kurama.

They were walking for a while when Botan suddenly let out a small 'eep'. "What is it?" asked Yusuke. Botan pointed to the screen.

"According to this, we're getting close to the first artifact," she replied. Kuwabara peered over her shoulder.

"Does it say which one?" he asked.

"I'm afraid not. Apparently, all of the artifacts give off the same aura, so you can't tell the difference, really," said Botan.

Kagome and Tori were walking side by side, Kagome occasionally giving a glare behind her, just in case Inuyasha was following. She didn't care how sad he'd looked; she'd toughened up over these past few months, meaning she wasn't falling for the cutesy-hanyou trick anymore. She actually felt proud of herself. Tori was also silently proud of Kagome, but a few quick sniffs vanquished her good mood. She smelt more demon, giving a low growl.

Tori's growl drew attention from Botan, who immediately drew close to her shoulder, looking around nervously.

"What is it? Can you feel something? Can you sense it?"

"I can smell it," replied Tori in slight annoyance. Sometimes Botan got on her nerves just a teensy bit. Her ligress, too, was getting interested. This was practically her ligress's natural habitat, so she was more in tune here than she was in the city, where the smell of car exhaust and cement smothered up everything else.

"Well?" asked Yusuke, "What is it?"

"What do you think? A demon, smart one, why do you think my . . .um . . .I mean, I growled?" Hiei looked at her curiously. She was trying to hide something. He'd find it out soon. He smirked to himself. Getting the info out of her would be fun.

"What kind of demon?" asked Kurama. Tori took another sniff.

"A water demon, it's over here," Tori followed the fishy scent through the bushes. She froze. Hiei almost went past her, but she pulled him back before he could blow their cover. He glared at her. He knew what he was doing, she had no right to be telling him where he could and couldn't go. He yanked himself away annoyingly, but Tori didn't notice. She peered through the bushes at the creature standing on the banks of a beautiful lake. It had a fish face, with a human body, except for the two giant fins on its back. It was green all over, with a mermaid tail. Its feet and hands were webbed, and its entire body was covered with shimmering scales. It was holding a boomerang, standing in the sunlight. It suddenly raised the boomerang, yelling in a hoarse voice,

"Killer whale!" A beam of light shot from the boomerang and dove into the water, where small bubbles formed, and suddenly, a huge, black dorsal fin appeared, spouting water. The demon smirked, and waded out into the water to climb on its back. Tori took the chance to go. She raced out of the bushes using her super-speed, and raced into the water after the demon. Hiei angrily flew over the water after her. He wasn't used to getting left in the dust. He paused to watch as Tori crept up on the demon, about to pounce, when . . .

"SPIRIT GUN!"

*BAM*

A beam of blue light shot across the water, just missing the demon, and Tori by a nose. She fell forward to avoid the shot, and the demon spun around, seeing the boy on the shores, swiveling its fish eyes down to the girl in the water. 'Damn it, Yusuke!' thought Tori angrily. The demon let out a shriek and drew up to his full height, towering over Tori. She jumped up, ready for a fight.

The demon swiped at her with the boomerang. She jumped over the shot, nailing the demon in the face with one of her high jump kicks. The demon staggered, and suddenly began spinning around, dragging its tail in the water and creating a cyclone. Tori stared up at it. 'Oh, shit,' she thought. She dove down, burying her claws in the bottom of the shallow water. She waited until the cyclone was right over her, and leapt up, cutting the demon right across its side with a huge swipe of her claws. The demon stopped. It raised the boomerang again, yelling,

"Lion!"

The boomerang shot out a beacon of light, which formed this time into a huge, male lion. It roared out its challenge. Tori drew back. A lion? Kurama came flying across the water to help her. He glanced back at the fire demon that was hovering lazily over the surface.

"Why don't you come help, Hiei?" Kurama called out at him.

"Why should I help an insolent brat who thinks she can do things better than me?" responded Hiei. Kurama shrugged. He flew next to the lion. "Tori! You get the boomerang! I'll take care of this!" he called. Tori nodded, and raced off after the demon, who was attempting a getaway on his orca (killer whale). Kurama took out his rose whip and began cracking it at the lion.

Tori raced out until she reached the drop where the orca had formerly been. It was chest-deep water up to there, where it suddenly dropped off into darkness. Tori gulped. She didn't care for deep water. But she had to do this. She took a deep breath, and dove off the edge, zooming down under the depths, following the black shape ahead of her.

After some time of following it, Tori realized she couldn't keep up that well, even with her good swimming abilities. She rested, thinking. She was a very talented imitator, and she'd once heard a recording of an orca distress cry. She gave it a shot, cupping her hands around her mouth, calling after the shape. It suddenly stopped, wheeling around. Tori smiled. Fake or not, these animals still had their instincts.

The whale came back towards her, and she could see the demon struggling to get it to turn around. The whale nuzzled her with its snout, and she smiled. The demon wasn't too happy, though. It jumped off the whale's back, suddenly conjuring up water balls in its hands. Tori growled at it. The whale turned, too, siding with her. It threw the weapons at Tori, who dodged them, but not too easily, since she was underwater with no fins or mermaid tail. She was also beginning to lose her breath, too. The demon seemed to sense this. It suddenly gave charge, while Tori was about to head for the surface, and it head butted her in the stomach. Tori doubled over, the air being knocked out of her. She was struggling, now. She felt her body weakening from the lack of oxygen. The whale charged at the demon, who simply touched it with the boomerang, and it disappeared. Tori glared at the demon out of slowly fading eyesight.

It spun around, creating another cyclone of water that reared up high. Tori felt herself get caught up in it, spinning round and round as she was thrust upwards to the surface.

Hiei knew something was wrong when he realized Tori had been down there too long for human lung capacity. He flew over to the spot where he'd watched her disappear, and peered down into the dark depths, looking for some trace of the girl. Suddenly, bubbles appeared far out in the lake, which turned into a whirlpool within seconds. Hiei flew over to the water cyclone, suddenly jumping back as it shot out of the water, towering over him. It thrashed near the top, and suddenly vanished. In its place was Tori, half-drowned. She hung in the air for just a moment before plunging dangerously down to the water.

"Tori!" cried Kagome, seeing her friend from the shore. She raced out to help her, but the lion Kurama was fighting suddenly went after her. Kagome froze as it pounced at her. Suddenly, Kurama was between her and the vicious cat, snapping at it, saying angrily,

"Your battle's with me!" Kagome stared with wonder at Kurama as he used extreme dexterity to dodge, block, and evade the lion's attacks. She caught herself with her mouth open and snapped it shut, blushing.

Hiei watched Tori plummet to the water at a dangerous speed, and he immediately shot after her, zooming down. He soon was able to get just underneath her, catching her gently in his arms before they both plunged into the water.

Hiei had never liked water, not one bit. He saw the demon coming after them and flew out of the water as the demon shot out. Hiei looked back to see the creature running on the water's surface. He landed on the shore, putting Tori down, and angrily zipped right at the demon, giving it one of his super-speed flaming punches right in the stomach.

The demon stood, rigid, before falling under the water in the shallow area. Hiei dove down and pried the Boomerang of Summoning from the creature's hands, and immediately watched its size reduce. The power that the boomerang gave off seemed to have made it larger as well as stronger and more powerful. He flew back to the shores, landing. Tori sat up weakly, coughing up lake water. Kagome was patting her on the back, to try to help get rid of the water in her system. Tori glanced at Hiei, who was proudly displaying the Boomerang in his hands. She glared.

"Wow, Tori, it's a good thing Hiei caught you before you fell, or else the impact of your fall on the water probably would've killed you," commented Kurama. He was actually only saying it as a test, to see their reactions. He'd seen Hiei's heroic display, apparently he was the only one who had, and he wanted to find something out.

Tori glanced up at Hiei again, this time with a different look on her face.

"Why did you save me?" she asked. He turned away, an obviously embarrassed look on his face. He glanced back to answer her question.

"Like it matters, but now you owe me," he responded. Tori looked away.

"Well, we've got the first artifact, and we're all still alive, I'm sure that counts for something," said Botan. Hiei kept his eyes on Tori, who avoided his gaze. 'Hmm, interesting,' thought Kurama.

A few hours later, Tori picked up a different scent. As soon as she did, Botan's detector went off. She started through the bushes, stopping when she saw a water sprite in a pond. It was wearing a white tiara on its head. Kagome came up, tapping Tori on the shoulder. Tori silently agreed to let her try to do this one without a fight. Kagome walked calmly over to the sprite. She still exercised caution, for water sprites could be tricky.

"Hi," she said. The sprite jumped, turning to look at her.

"Oh, hi. I didn't know humans were in the area," she said.

"Well, actually, we've come to get what you have," said Kagome, pointing to the sprite's head. It looked up.

"Oh, this. I thought it was pretty, so I picked it up. It looks nice, don't you agree?" she asked.

"Yes, it's nice. We need it, though, I'm terribly sorry," said Kagome.

"Oh, that's all right. You can have it," said the sprite. The sprite was friendly at least. Tori sighed, this one would be easy. She was about to come join them, when she picked up another scent moving quickly towards them. Suddenly, something shot through the clearing, snatching the tiara off the sprite's head. It skidded to a stop at the other side.

"Hey, you meanie! Give that back!" yelled Kagome. The sprite dove underwater to avoid any fighting. It was a wolf demon, dressed in a similar fashion to Koga's tribe. That thought struck Kagome. But, before she could say anything, the demon approached her.

"Hey, aren't you that wench Koga took as his mate?" asked the demon in a gruff voice. Kagome blushed.

"Well, yes, he meant to be my mate, but things kind of got . . .um, HEY! Don't get me off the subject, pal! I want that tiara, now! Aren't you supposed to be a member of Koga's tribe?"

The demon spat at the thought. "Me? A member of that kid's pack? Never! In case you haven't noticed, I'm a member of the Northern Wolf Tribe. We're much better strategists than the trash and filth that's called the Western Tribe." Kagome really could care less.

"Give me that artifact, now! Or you're gonna regret it!" said Kagome. She jumped for it, but the demon pulled it out of her reach. He held it up high, and Tori seized the chance. She shot out of the bushes, flying over the demon, snatching the tiara out of his hands, and landing neatly on the ground next to him. The wolf turned and growled at her, but Tori matched it with a fierce fang baring of her own that made the demon withdraw. She took Kagome's arm, and led her back to the others.

"Well that was fast," commented Yusuke.

"Okay, we've got the Tiara of Growth, now what?" asked Tori.

"I say we put this baby to the test," said Kuwabara. Tori rolled her eyes.

"Fine, whatever." She tossed him the tiara. He stood, pointing it at the ground.

"Grow!"

Nothing happened. Yusuke began to snicker. "What's so funny, Urameshi?" yelled Kuwabara, spinning around to face the amused spirit detective.

"I think you're supposed to wear it," he said, a smug grin on his face. Kuwabara looked in horror at the tiara in his hands.

"No WAY! I'm not some sissy little girl!" he yelled, dropping the tiara, and it bounced softly on the grass. Tori picked it up.

"Fine, then, I will, you baby," she said. Kuwabara glared.

"I am NOT a baby!" No one heard him, for Tori had already put the tiara on and spread her hand towards an open area. She closed her eyes, and suddenly, the wind picked up, gently lifting her hair off her shoulders as her hand began to glow green. Beautiful flowers, such as azaleas, poinsettias, daisies, and roses sprang from the ground. Tori then turned toward a tree, and vines grew up it, their leaves growing on tiny springs as the thick vines wound around the trunk. She spun around in a circle, and within a few seconds, the area surrounding her became a breathtaking garden.

Tori opened her eyes, and marveled at the tiara's handiwork. She took it off, giving it to Botan.

"Yeah, we definitely need to keep this one safe," she said. Yusuke's head popped out of an azalea bush.

"Why? All it does is grow flowers," he said. In answer, Tori snatched back the tiara, putting it on, and held her hand out at Yusuke. In a few seconds, Yusuke was being lifted up into the air by foot-thick vines. Tori began to ball her hand into a fist, and the vines tightened on him, choking and suffocating him. He began to gasp for air.

"That's why," said Tori. With a snap of her fingers, the vines vanished, and Yusuke fell, panting. He suddenly looked up after he'd gotten his breath back.

"Hey, why didn't your collar zap you? Weren't you trying to kill me?" he asked.

"Why would I kill you? There really wouldn't be any point to it, unless you'd done something seriously wrong to me, like . . ." She stopped, her voice trailing off.

"Like what?" asked Yusuke, annoyed.

"Nothing." Tori gave the tiara to Botan, who put it in her big backpack she'd brought to carry the items in. Kagome looked at Tori worriedly as she saw shadows begin to form in her friend's eyes. Tori was revisiting more painful memories. Hiei would've seized this chance to try to find out what they were, but that would've drawn too much attention. He couldn't do it with everyone else around.

Tori snapped out of it as they continued their journey. They walked all day, until night began to fall. Kagome stopped them.

"Listen, you guys, it's too dangerous to continue in these woods after dark," said Kagome. "I say we break camp." Kagome's traveling around with Inuyasha for so long had rubbed off some wilderness survival tips on her. She immediately dropped her large bag, and she started pulling out some instant food packets.

"Let's see what we've got, hmm, instant chicken noodle soup, instant ramen . . ." She ticked off what she'd packed in her bag. Botan knew she couldn't make those without a fire. She turned to the boys, particularly Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"Oh, boys, you wouldn't mind going to get us some firewood, would you?" she asked sweetly.

"Of course not, come along you three," said Kurama. Hiei stayed put.

"No thanks, I'm not some vile servant," he growled, floating up into a tree. He landed on a branch overlooking a cliff that lay just through the trees.

After everyone had eaten, Kagome unrolled her sleeping bag near the fire, like she always did. Botan pulled out her oar, and slept on it while it floated in the air. Kurama flew up into the same tree as Hiei, except on a different branch, which was facing camp. He watched as Yusuke and Kuwabara leaned up against some trees. Soon, Yusuke was asleep sitting up, while Kuwabara had fallen on his side, and curled up, snoring.

Tori waited until everyone was, one way or another, asleep. She got up from her position against another tree, and crept out of camp to the cliff. She sighed when she was out of there; being around campfires with other people was kind of crowding to her. She sat on the soft, grassy cliff, staring out over Feudal Japan. Nothing but trees and mountains for miles, this was definitely her kind of place. The moonlight's soft glow emphasized the shadows in the forest below. The light also made her feel tired. She lay down on her side, and slowly fell asleep.

Hiei had been watching her from his branch. He looked out over the view she'd been watching, and sighed to himself. This was much better than the city.

Twenty minutes later, he was close to snoozing, when he suddenly heard muttering down below. His eyes snapped open, alert, but he saw what was making the noise. Down on her cliff, Tori had begun to have nightmares. Hiei checked around to make sure Kurama wasn't watching him, and flew down to Tori's side.

"No, please, spare him," she sobbed. Hiei looked at her face, which was tearstained. She was crying again. Hiei once more checked back to make sure no one was watching him, and he gently placed a hand on Tori's forehead, closing his eyes. Human minds were most vulnerable when they were asleep.

Hiei felt himself enter Tori's mind. All around him was darkness. Across wherever he was, Hiei suddenly spotted a door. He heard voices echoing from it. He immediately started towards it, his demon senses turned up to maximum.

Suddenly, Hiei heard a mighty roar, and an enormous creature dropped to the floor with the grace of a cat. It snarled at him. Hiei had only seen creatures like this a few times before. He immediately recognized it as the thing that possessed Tori when she was angry.

"Hmm, so a ligress is the cause for her animal instincts," Hiei said to himself. "Interesting." The ligress bared her enormous fangs at him. He glanced up and down at the half-lion half-tiger standing before him. She looked like a white lioness with black tiger stripes. She also looked pretty pissed. Hiei could sense that she was also worried. She was worried about the girl she shared a body with. "Listen, ligress, I'm here to help her," said Hiei. The ligress wouldn't hear any of it, though. She continued to snarl at Hiei. He saw her deadly claws flex out of the muscular paws. She was intent on protecting her friend.

They both turned toward the door as a scream rang out. The ligress turned from the door to Hiei. She seemed to glare at him, but reluctantly moved to the side. She really had no other option. Tori wouldn't let her in, so maybe this boy could help. She followed Hiei to the door. Hiei opened it onto a dream scene. Tori lay on the ground, apparently exhausted from something, while a boy Hiei didn't recognize with silvery-blue hair held up another boy with some kind of powers. The boy being held had brown hair and brown eyes.

"Well, Tori, you're family lies dead behind me, just one more to kill," said the silver-haired boy. "Say goodbye to your big brother!" With that, he charged up an energy ball of blue light, suddenly blasting it at the boy in the air. Hiei recognized the attack. It was an old one, from ancient times. He watched as the boy fell to the ground, dead.

"Taylor!" yelled Tori, suddenly leaping to her feet and racing over to him. She sat, hunched over him, crying, while the evil boy came up behind her, laughing. She suddenly whirled around, unmatchable ferocity in her eyes. "I'LL KILL YOU FOR THIS YOU BASTARD!" she screamed, diving at him, claws extended, suddenly gashing his arm open. The boy leaped back, suddenly angry, and blasting Tori. Hiei noticed the ligress come up behind him, watching sadly. She'd apparently seen this show before. Hiei couldn't help but feel sorry for Tori. She continued attacking him; this was obviously where the ligress had emerged in her rage. "DIE, RIKU!" she screamed. He finally blasted her one more time, and her body couldn't take any more, and it collapsed. Riku disappeared in a pool of black shadows, leaving a close- to-death and grievous Tori behind on the ground. Hiei finally walked up to her. He kneeled down next to her.

"Is this what happened?" he asked. Tori, still slightly jumpy, suddenly grabbed Hiei's wrist in her leftover rage, and both snapped out of it.

Tori awoke with Hiei kneeling over her, his hand, which she was clutching, still on her forehead. She released it, and sat up.

"What the hell were you doing in my head?" she asked angrily. Hiei remained calm, simply looking her in the eyes. He now knew the source of all of her pain. But something told him there was still more.

"You were talking in your sleep, that's all," he said. He got up and was about to leave when he heard her voice.

"So, now you know." He turned back to her. She was looking at the ground.

"I wouldn't go so far as to say that," said Hiei. Tori looked up at him. She was apparently undecided about something. She finally spoke up again.

"I'll . . .I'll tell you about that little scene you saw, if you want," she said. Hiei sat back down, knowing he was in for a long story.

"It's like this, I used to have a boyfriend named Riku, like you saw. He was what you'd call a control-freak. He wouldn't let me out of his sight for more than a day. So, when I went with my family on a trip for three days, he was pissed when I got back. In revenge, he killed my mom, dad, and little sister, and forced me to watch him kill my brother, the other kid you saw. Ever since then, I'd longed to kill him, and avenge my family. Eventually, I did, with the help of someone else, but the memories still haunt me," said Tori.

When she'd finished, Hiei could sense brimming tears in her eyes. He knew there was still more, but he didn't want to know it all tonight. He simply stood up, and bid Tori good night. Tori looked up at him. The moonlight behind her gave Hiei a gentle glow. She smiled softly as he flew back to his perch to watch over her while she slept.

Unknowing of both of them, a certain cocky spirit detective was watching through the bushes, a smirk on his face and evil ideas forming in his head.

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Tori the Hanyou: Oh, man, you'd better start feeling sorry for that guy . . .well, now you know a little bit of Tori's history. For those of you who've read Trapped in the Next Dimension, my YuGiOh fic, you'll notice I took Tori's history out of there, cuz like I said in the first chapter of this fic, this is sort of a sequel to it. Anywho, once again, I'm tired, but thankfully my mom's not hassling me. Oh, well.

Cya! ~*Tori the Hanyou*~