InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Miko for Youkai ❯ A Miko for Youkai, Part 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

 

 

A Miko for Youkai, Part 1:

 

 

“Fenn,” said Shippo evenly, although it was evident the kitsune was irritated. “What brings you out this way?”

 

Fenn grinned. “Do I need a reason?” he asked.

 

“You do if it interrupts my class,” replied Shippo. The stood face to face in the middle of Inuyasha's woods as lesser youkai gradually solidified around them. Not all of them were Inuyasha's. Shippo glanced at them, then focused back on Fenn. “Yours?” he asked. “What's this about?'

 

“Uncle Fenn!” Something small flew in a blur across the clearing and attached itself to Fenn's legs. Shippo frowned.

 

He turned to the hanyou boy and said sternly, “Kazuki, what did we talk about earlier? You're not supposed to move that fast in front of other people.”

 

“But it's Uncle Fenn,” protested Kazuki.

 

Uncle Fenn's smile widened, but he gently untangled Kazuki and set him back on his feet. “Listen to your teacher,” he said, looking straight at Shippo, who nodded before motioning to Kazuki to continue his lessons. The boy bounded off just as quickly as he had arrived.

 

“He's been having problems in kindergarten,” explained Shippo.

 

“Problems?”

 

“He forgets he isn't supposed to be able to do some of the things he does. Last week the teacher almost had a heart attack when he raced across the playground at youkai speed because she had told the class the first one back would win a prize.”

 

“I see,” said Fenn. “Do you need me to help?”

 

“You mean, put some sort of illusion over him? No, the whole point is for him to learn how to blend in with human society.”

 

Fenn laughed. “Yes, we all are supposed to be learning that.” He took out his cell phone and dialed a number. “It's me,” he spoke into it, then snapped it closed. “Nice to see you again, Shippo,” he said, and he turned to walk away.

 

“What about them?” Shippo pointed at Fenn's smaller youkai who remained in the clearing in the woods instead of following after Fenn.

 

“They can stay here with you,” said Fenn.

 

“What am I supposed to do with them?” asked Shippo.

 

“You're not bad at illusion, teach `em. Let them join your class.”

 

Shippo just stared after him as Fenn disappeared up the mountain. Kazuki, who had been sitting perfectly still not ten feet away in the upper branches of a tree, hopped down and held out his hand. “Did I do good? Can I get my leaf now?”

 

Shippo chuckled and pulled a leaf with the number 37 on it. “Sure, good job, Kazuki.”

 

 

 

Kagome was studying while Mayumi played quietly on the rug by the fireplace.

 

“Still working on your degree?” asked Fenn, as he sank down beside Kagome on the sofa, pushing some of her books to the side in the process.

 

“Yes, I'm taking two classes this semester, now that Kazuki is in kindergarten. We worked it out so that Inuyasha takes Mayumi while I'm in class.” Kagome sighed, thinking of all her friends who had already graduated and started on their careers. “It will be another year or so yet before I'm finally finished.”

 

Fenn was silent for a moment. Mayumi crawled over to him and pulled herself up by holding onto his knees. She had the same coloring as her father and brother, and sharp little nails, too. She wobbled a little, then let go and took a few shaky steps towards her mother.

 

“She's walking?” asked Fenn.

 

“She just started. I give her a week, and we'll be chasing her around the house like we did her brother,” laughed Kagome.

 

“You look like you have your hands full,” Fenn remarked. Mayumi started her wobbly way back to him.

 

“It's not so bad,” said Kagome. “Inuyasha is a big help.”

 

Fenn raised his eyebrows.

 

“He is!” Kagome insisted. “He takes Mayumi all the time when he's not at school—I don't know how he does it, but he never seems to study—and he brings Kazuki to school on the days when I don't have to take the car. He's great with the kids.”

 

Fenn could just imagine it. Through the eyes of the local youkai, he'd `seen' Inuyasha babysitting his little daughter out in the woods, flying through branches at dizzying heights. If her mother only knew.

 

“Then maybe you'd have time to help me with a little youkai problem?” Fenn asked, quirking his eyebrows at her.

 

“Me? Shouldn't you be asking Inuyasha if it's a youkai problem?” asked Kagome. Mayumi, suddenly brave, toddled away from the sofa, arms extended towards the crackling flames in the fireplace. Kagome scooped her up and deposited her on her bottom back on the rug. She immediately crawled back to the sofa and pulled herself up again.

 

“It's not that kind of problem,” said Fenn.

 

 

 

Shippo enjoyed teaching this new crop of youkai his own brand of tricks and traps. It wasn't all kitsune magic, either. Inuyasha was pretty vocal about not wanting Kazuki to just learn kitsune tricks. Too bad, `cause the kid was good at it.

 

The real challenge came in teaching the local youkai. They drank up his training like water. It was a little disconcerting, watching the forest youkai take on more and more human characteristics as the months went by. Neither he nor Inuyasha had ever been able to get a straight answer out of Fenn or Mr. Rinks as to where the little youkai had come from. He was pretty sure that Valynne, the most human-seeming of them all, had originally been one of them, and that alone opened up a whole world of speculation.

 

These little youkai of Fenn's were a different story. They had remained with him while Fenn went up to visit Inuyasha and Kagome, but that's all they did. They hovered, poised above his forest base, as if they were waiting for something. Although Shippo could occasionally make out recognizable features—eyes, nose, teeth—for the most part they were unformed, or at least unable to hold a stable form. They were similar in nature to Fenn, Shippo realized, but where Fenn appeared completely human, they did not. They'd better not try siphoning any energy off him or any of his students, or they'd quickly feel the power of kitsune magic!

 

What was he supposed to do with them? Teach them, Fenn had said. How? They hadn't moved since Fenn had left.

 

Kazuki scattered them as he dropped down through them on the way back from his last assignment. He skidded to a stop in front of Shippo and looked back curiously at the hovering youkai. “Hi,” he said, not at all put off by their unhuman appearance. “Wanna play tag?” Not waiting for an answer, Kazuki took off again, although he did glance back once to see if they were following.

 

They were. Shippo wasn't sure if he should be worried, so he followed, too. “Ok, your assignment is to circle around and end up back here, with one transformation or misdirection each,” Shippo called, trying to keep some control of the situation. “I'll be watching.”

 

It was a game they had played before. Kazuki laughed and sped on, bearing slightly to the left as he began his circle. He couldn't change his shape, but he was good at hiding. Too bad he couldn't disguise his scent, though. Shippo hung back to give him and the other youkai time to set a plan in motion. In the distance ahead, he could see Fenn's youkai wink out of existence one by one. They were like Fenn, all right. Gone from sight and scent.

 

Shippo followed Kazuki's scent trail, keeping a sharp eye out for a place where the boy might think to hide. Inuyasha would have the boy rely solely on his superior speed and agility, but there was something to be said for cunning, too. Hence, the game of tag.

 

Eventually Shippo made it back to the original starting point. He had followed Kazuki's scent trail the entire way. However, neither the hanyou boy nor the cloud of Fenn's youkai were there. A few of the local forest youkai had returned. He'd spotted several of them in their transformed states as little statues (a trick he'd taught them) and tagged them as he passed by. Once they were tagged, they were free to return to base. But Kazuki and Fenn's youkai were missing.

 

A pang of fear shot through Shippo. He'd never quite trusted that Fenn. What if his youkai had drained little Kazuki of his power? He raced to retrace his steps, in case he had missed something. He felt a cold breeze pass him and he stopped in his tracks. No sight, no scent. Could it have been Fenn's youkai? Shippo didn't know whether to turn around and follow the cold sensation, or to continue on in search of Kazuki.

 

He decided to go back and confront the youkai. When he returned to the clearing, there was Kazuki in the midst of Fenn's youkai. “Home free!” he shouted, giggling.

 

Shippo felt his heart unclench, and he walked over and handed Kazuki another leaf without a word. Fenn's youkai held out their hands, those of them that had hands, for their leaves, too. Shippo gave them each a leaf. They had earned it.

 

“How did you do it?” he asked at last. “How did you fool me?”

 

“I hid in the middle,” explained Kazuki, waving his arms at the now visible youkai.

 

Shippo's eyes widened. Fenn's youkai were able to hide Kazuki so completely that he seemed to have virtually disappeared? Inuyasha needed to know about this.

 

 

 

Inuyasha came downstairs, still damp from his shower. He shook his head vigorously, flinging droplets of water in all directions before he blotted off the remainder with a towel. “Fenn, what's up?” he asked, unsurprised to see the new world youkai sitting on his couch next to his wife. He's sensed him the minute the other youkai had walked into the house.

 

Fenn stood. “Inuyasha, just the person I was looking for,” he said. “Do you mind if I borrow your wife for a few hours tomorrow? I might have a job for her.”

 

Inuyasha glanced at Kagome. “What sort of job?” he asked suspiciously. Kagome already had enough to do around here with the kids and school and him. She didn't need to do more.

 

Kagome answered. “Miko work.”

 

Inuyasha sat down on the rug next to Mayumi, who immediately started climbing all over him. “Explain,” he said, sounding for all the world like Sesshomaru.

 

Fenn's cheeks reddened slightly. “I—uh—remember that time you came out to my, er, place with Susan, and you saw my—those—youkai above the water? You accused them of feeding off energy—me, too. Well, they are becoming a little bit of a problem for me.”

 

Inuyasha frowned. “Problem? Want me to kill `em for you?” He flexed his claws. “Just say the word.”

 

Fenn appeared shocked. “No! I—uh, the thing is—they manifested as a result of my, um, activities,” he said. “Long time ago, I mean.”

 

“I figured that much,” muttered Inuyasha. Lesser youkai sometimes formed from extreme emotion. They were usually uncontrollable, almost mindless, and usually never survived very long unless they continued to feed on the same sort of emotion that gave rise to them in the first place. That was why he had been so angry with Fenn at the beginning. Those youkai he had seen had obviously been feeding off of the excess energy that Fenn gathered—and Fenn, contrary to what he might have told the others, fed off humans at least as often as he fed off nature. Maybe he didn't kill them anymore. . . maybe, but he still fed off them. “So what's the problem?” he asked.

 

Fenn sighed. This had been easier to explain to Kagome. “They're becoming more solid, like your youkai,” he admitted. “And I don't know what to do about it.”

 

“What!” Inuyasha erupted. He shot to his feet, grabbing Mayumi as she clung precariously to his neck. “Go play,” he instructed her as he set her back down among her toys on the rug. “Like our youkai?” Inuyasha envisioned Fenn's voracious energy-suckers running around his woods with furry little bodies. “I don't think so. They need to be destroyed—now!”

 

Fenn didn't want to kill them. They were, in some ways, a part of what he was. Inuyasha was probably right to want to kill them, however. If they became more powerful, then they would likely be a threat to the humans around them since they fed off living energy. They would wreak havoc in today's world. Even so, “That's why I thought Kagome could come see if she could help them,” he said in a small voice. It sounded stupider when he said it to Inuyasha.

 

“Absolutely not.” Inuyasha folded his arms, which didn't have the same effect with his long hair wrapped up in a bath towel.

 

Kagome spoke quietly. “Why not?” she asked. “Maybe I can help. It can't hurt to try,” she reasoned with him.

 

“Yeah, it can,” replied Inuyasha. “I'm not letting you do it.”

 

Kagome's eyes glinted. She sucked in her breath, ready to argue, when Fenn intervened. “Inuyasha, you are our leader. You said you'd help protect all of us as long as we didn't hurt anyone. I don't know how or why it happened, but those manifestations of my energy are becoming real, just like your forest youkai. Don't they deserve a chance? They are just starting to evolve. Who's to say they have to become evil?”

 

Inuyasha wasn't buying it, not totally. Evil was a human term, and both he and Fenn knew it. Fenn was preaching to Kagome, not him. Unfortunately, his wife was soft-hearted, and she was buying Fenn's story. She turned pleading eyes on Inuyasha, and he knew it was all over. “Fine,” he spit out. “But I'm coming with her.”

 

 

 

Shippo still had to call for Kagome to take down her barrier at the end of the day. He'd insisted that she keep it that way. In Shippo's opinion, she was far too trusting of youkai as it was. He knew that if she keyed her barrier to allow him and his family free access, she would feel obligated to key it for youkai like Fenn, too. So he told her he'd rather call.

 

Fenn had stopped by to pick up his youkai on his way out. He had seemed pleased that Shippo had managed to incorporate his youkai into the class. “Thank Kazuki, not me,” Shippo said. He was just glad it was over.

 

Kagome had Kazuki in the bath with the baby. He chattered away excitedly about his day, and Shippo could hear Kagome murmuring responses in between Kazuki's long-winded tales.

 

Shippo flung himself onto the couch and watched the fire as it burned. It was at times like this that he missed Junko. They had agreed that Shippo would stay here another year or three to train Kazuki and the others. Junko had brought the grandchildren out to visit during the summer as promised, but it wasn't long enough. He was thinking seriously of moving here for good. Junko was all for it, and the grandchildren could still visit. He sighed. It was something to think about, anyway.

 

“Inuyasha?” Shippo looked up as Inuyasha came into the room carrying the little one wrapped in a towel. Kagome was still struggling to get Kazuki dried off and dressed for bed. “Do you have a minute?”

 

Inuyasha face turned grim as Shippo related the day's events. “That Fenn,” he growled. “He didn't mention that he brought his youkai up here with him.”

 

“Yeah, and he probably didn't tell you his youkai can hide other youkai with their disappearing act either, did he?” said Shippo. “Kazuki was gone, completely. I tell you, I had a moment of panic when I couldn't find him.”

 

Inuyasha growled louder and his eyes flashed red. Shippo gulped, realizing that maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to tell Inuyasha that he had allowed his son to go with Fenn's youkai.

 

Kagome trailed after Kazuki as he flew out of the bathroom. She waved his pajamas in her hands. “Kazuki, finish getting dressed first!”

 

“Daddy, daddy!” Kazuki plopped himself onto Inuyasha's lap, and Inuyasha exchanged Mayumi for the bundle of Kazuki's clothes. He helped the boy get dressed while Kagome brought Mayumi to her bedroom to do the same with her.

 

“I got two leaves today!” said Kazuki. “Uncle Fenn came, and he brought more friends for me to play with. We tricked Uncle Shippo!” he added.

 

Inuyasha patted Kazuki on the back for getting two leaves in one day. He would settle this with Fenn tomorrow. “How did you trick Uncle Shippo?” he asked.

 

Kazuki beamed at him. “I asked Uncle Fenn's youkai if I could go with them when they hid, and they said yes.”

 

“They talked to you?” Inuyasha and Shippo both asked. Kazuki nodded enthusiastically.

 

Kagome came out of the bedroom holding a sleepy Mayumi dressed in her little stretchy one-piece sleeper. “He really likes them,” she said. “He told me all about it. It would be a shame if he wasn't able to see them again, wouldn't it, Inuyasha?”

 

Inuyasha and Shippo exchanged glances. Yeah, a shame.

 

“Shippo, can you babysit the kids tomorrow? Kagome and I need to go out for a few hours and take care of some things.”

 

Shippo caught the daggers going back and forth between Kagome and Inuyasha's eyes. “Sure, no problem,” he said cautiously. If only Junko were here and he had his own house to escape to at times like these.

 

End of Part 1.