InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ In Deep Woods ❯ Chapter 5
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Silly1 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Drama / Fantasy / Romance | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 01.16.2011 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.2K | Visits: 254 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Drama / Fantasy / Romance | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 01.16.2011 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.2K | Visits: 254 | Status: Work In Progress
In Deep Woods, 5:
When they could move again, Megumi brought Trace inside the circle and reset her barrier. No sense alerting Shippo, who tended to be nearly as overprotective as her grandfather. She held onto his arm fiercely. If Trace thought he was leaving in between any time soon, then Megumi was determined to go with him. But so far, Trace had not made any move except to kiss her and repeatedly stroke her face with his free hand.
“I remember everything,” she whispered softly. She let go of Trace long enough to unlock the front door, since she had not left through it when she instinctively popped in between to get to him when she saw him lying stunned on the edge of the property. “Why did you—what happened?”
Before Megumi started ministering to the strange youkai in his prison cave in Japan, under the watchful guidance of her miko grandmother, before Fenn had stolen away her memories in her youth, Megumi had been madly in love with the youkai known as Trace. Once her memories had been sealed away, all Megumi had left was a sense of loss, until now. Now, the missing memories came flooding back. They had been making love in the family’s summer hideaway, when her mother had stumbled upon them. Trace had said some things, leading her to believe he already knew her mother. And then he had taken her in between for the first time. It was as if a light had suddenly gone off in Megumi’s brain. She knew how to do this!
In all the confusion that followed, she never doubted Trace. The bitter words he exchanged with her mother must have been some sort of misunderstanding. Her mother just didn’t know Trace like she did. Then, another strange youkai had appeared and attacked Trace. He fought hard to protect her, but the strange youkai kidnapped her, passing her off to yet another who took her in between again, to a place she had never been. She fought them with all that she had, but it wasn’t enough. Vaguely, she remembered a third youkai, who touched her briefly between the eyes. And then—nothing.
With her memories recovered, she could finally put names to the faces of the youkai who had ripped her and Trace apart. Grandpa! And her Uncle Koji. And Fenn. All people she dearly loved, people who had raised her and loved her back. Grandma Kagome. For centuries, she had patiently taught Megumi, an inu-wolf youkai, how to be a miko for youkai. She took Megumi to the cave of the imprisoned youkai, and had her care for his daily needs, never once letting on that he was her own lost love. She had just said the youkai was locked away because he couldn’t be trusted. Megumi believed her. Kagome was the most compassionate woman Megumi had ever met. If Kagome said it was necessary, she believed her.
A great weight settled upon Megumi’s chest as she realized the breadth of the deception. They had all known. Grandma Kagome, her own mother, all of them. Over the years, they looked at her with pity in their eyes. Poor Megumi, so sad, always alone. Why didn’t she find someone and settle down? They knew perfectly well why not!
Yet Fenn must have had his doubts. He had lifted the memory block from her, knowing that she would realize he had put it there in the first place. He had taken her to see Trace in his prison, and then he had freed Trace so he could be with her. “Where’s Fenn?” she asked.
Trace looked at her. “In my place,” he said. “He gave me his energy and pushed me out.” He tilted his head to gauge her reaction. “He can’t get out.”
At first, Megumi thought it was only right that Fenn give up his own freedom for Trace’s. Fenn was the one who had wronged them. Then she frowned. “Energy? What do you mean?”
Trace laughed softly. “You really don’t know much about me, do you?” he replied. He pulled her into his arms and allowed himself one more kiss. “It’s what we are,” he explained as he broke away. He touched a single rose in a vase full of roses and watched it wither and brown. In seconds, the entire dozen was dead, brittle and falling to dust. “Fenn and I. We live off stolen energy.”
Megumi blinked, but she didn’t move away from Trace. Lots of youkai were energy-drinkers. Grandpa’s own sword, Tetsusaiga, was one such. It didn’t necessarily make them bad. In fact, here in Inuyasha’s woods, many of the lesser youkai absorbed energy right from nature. Her eyes widened. Fenn’s youkai. She understood, now.
“Aren’t you afraid?” Trace sounded bitter. He, too, hadn’t moved. They stood about a foot apart, staring at each other. “I could kill you.”
Megumi shrugged, and flexed her claws. “I could kill you, too,” she said matter-of-factly. “That doesn’t mean I ever would.” She took the step forward that would bring her closer to him, and put her arms around him. “I trust you,” she said, dismissing her grandmother’s assertion that Trace had been locked up all these centuries precisely because he could not be trusted.
Trace wrapped his arms around Megumi. He could not be killed. He would have laughed. She had no idea what he could do to her. He would just have to show her. Then she would realize what he was, and she would flee from him, hopefully travelling in between so he could follow her. He was stuck, stuck in this form, stuck in this time, and stuck between here, the big city he had so recently visited, and the cave in Japan. Until he regained his self, and cast off some of his mortal ties, he was limited to following the paths of others.
“If only we could start over,” he said slyly, watching her expression as he looked into her rapt eyes, “before we lost each other.” He meant to plant the idea in her mind. Then, when she fled from him, as she would, her mind would automatically remember his words and try to escape to a time before all their troubles began. She knew the way. She had traveled it once before. And if she traveled that path to the past, then he could follow her and they really could start over, only this time, he would know what not to do. He smiled grimly. Inuyasha, this time things will happen my way.
Megumi nodded, and reached up to kiss him, and he used her lips as the contact point to suck her energy right out of her body. Her eyelids fluttered, and she sagged against him. Not too much. He needed her to be aware, and afraid. “See?” he murmured gently, releasing her lips for just a moment. “I can kiss you until you die.”
Some of Megumi’s spirit flared to life in her eyes, and she tried to back away from him. Trace couldn’t allow that. “No, my little Megumi,” he crooned. “Not that way. There’s only one way you can escape me now.” He lowered his lips to hers once more.
When the energy draw began again, Megumi gave a sharp jump, then gathered her self and went—just away. Trace, Trace, she thought wildly. If only we could go back in time. But that was beyond her understanding, even if it were possible. She was limited to places she had gone before, and in her sorrow, she went to the one place where she could be herself.
“Are you crazy, girl?” Trace spun away from her, stepping out from in between in the little house, much changed, but still in the same spot, where he and Megumi had last made love five centuries ago! Only it wasn’t then—it was now! Trace could tell that much. What was worse, this little house was near the cave where his doppelganger, Fenn, now sat in captivity.
Megumi answered by throwing herself against him and bursting into tears. “I didn’t know where else to go!” she sobbed, wiping her wet face on his shirt. She looked pale, and that made her look ethereal, with wide, gold eyes framed by dark lashes which still glistened with tears. She sank down on the modern bed, too shaky to remain standing. “I thought you loved me,” she said brokenly.
Trace felt something. He had meant to use Megumi to escape his current situation, but he had never intended to actually harm her. Some part of him had even hoped, if she had brought him back to that moment in the past where he had lost her, that they could start over, too. That there might still be a chance for them. He sat down next to her on the bed, wincing as she shrank away from him. “I—“ he began, not knowing how to proceed. He gave up, and kissed her again instead, a normal kiss, not one that literally stole her breath away.
Amazingly, Megumi responded. He could have killed her, yet she kissed him back as if the other two kisses had never happened. Trace groaned, and pushed her back onto the bed. Memories assailed him. He had had a lot of time to think during his captivity. Revenge. What he would do if he ever got free. Megumi. This place. This exact scenario.
He went with it, all thoughts of escape, and feeding, gone from his mind. Megumi was just as he remembered. Sweet, innocent, vulnerable. Only now she had a layer of sadness overlapping all the others, and he wanted to peel that layer away. She didn’t deserve to be sad. Tenderly, he kissed the last remnants of her tears away.
A door slammed. Déjà vu.
“Damn. It’s Grandma,” Megumi said, raising herself up on her elbows. “We’d better get out of here.” She reached for her clothes, grabbing up his along with them, as Trace’s eyes widened at the implications. Grandma? Kagome? That meant that this was her house now, her’s and that insufferable Inuyasha’s? Damn!
Trace glanced wildly at Megumi, needing her to lead them out. She looked back at him, puzzled, before she took his arm. “I know! Come on!” She turned in between and, still touching, Trace was able to follow her.
They emerged in the wilderness, in a place where snow still dusted the distant hills. But here, in the deeply wooded forest, the ground was bare, and deserted. “This is Grandpa Koga’s territory,” Megumi told him, dumping their clothes in a pile on the ground. “We’ll be safe here.”
She dropped down onto all fours, still naked, and glance back at Trace coyly. His all-too-human heart beat faster. In this form, he was nowhere near as fast as Megumi, who was closest to the wolf. But he gave it his best shot, chasing after her on two feet and hoping against hope that none of her father’s relatives were around to see. Because he fully intended on capturing her, and judging by the way Megumi periodically slowed down to wait for him, then sped up again after casting him another sultry look, he had no doubt it would happen very soon.
So Megumi had forgotten how to travel through time. Trace could work with that. Maybe this idyll in the woods was just what he needed to figure out what he wanted. Right now, what he wanted was Megumi.
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When they could move again, Megumi brought Trace inside the circle and reset her barrier. No sense alerting Shippo, who tended to be nearly as overprotective as her grandfather. She held onto his arm fiercely. If Trace thought he was leaving in between any time soon, then Megumi was determined to go with him. But so far, Trace had not made any move except to kiss her and repeatedly stroke her face with his free hand.
“I remember everything,” she whispered softly. She let go of Trace long enough to unlock the front door, since she had not left through it when she instinctively popped in between to get to him when she saw him lying stunned on the edge of the property. “Why did you—what happened?”
Before Megumi started ministering to the strange youkai in his prison cave in Japan, under the watchful guidance of her miko grandmother, before Fenn had stolen away her memories in her youth, Megumi had been madly in love with the youkai known as Trace. Once her memories had been sealed away, all Megumi had left was a sense of loss, until now. Now, the missing memories came flooding back. They had been making love in the family’s summer hideaway, when her mother had stumbled upon them. Trace had said some things, leading her to believe he already knew her mother. And then he had taken her in between for the first time. It was as if a light had suddenly gone off in Megumi’s brain. She knew how to do this!
In all the confusion that followed, she never doubted Trace. The bitter words he exchanged with her mother must have been some sort of misunderstanding. Her mother just didn’t know Trace like she did. Then, another strange youkai had appeared and attacked Trace. He fought hard to protect her, but the strange youkai kidnapped her, passing her off to yet another who took her in between again, to a place she had never been. She fought them with all that she had, but it wasn’t enough. Vaguely, she remembered a third youkai, who touched her briefly between the eyes. And then—nothing.
With her memories recovered, she could finally put names to the faces of the youkai who had ripped her and Trace apart. Grandpa! And her Uncle Koji. And Fenn. All people she dearly loved, people who had raised her and loved her back. Grandma Kagome. For centuries, she had patiently taught Megumi, an inu-wolf youkai, how to be a miko for youkai. She took Megumi to the cave of the imprisoned youkai, and had her care for his daily needs, never once letting on that he was her own lost love. She had just said the youkai was locked away because he couldn’t be trusted. Megumi believed her. Kagome was the most compassionate woman Megumi had ever met. If Kagome said it was necessary, she believed her.
A great weight settled upon Megumi’s chest as she realized the breadth of the deception. They had all known. Grandma Kagome, her own mother, all of them. Over the years, they looked at her with pity in their eyes. Poor Megumi, so sad, always alone. Why didn’t she find someone and settle down? They knew perfectly well why not!
Yet Fenn must have had his doubts. He had lifted the memory block from her, knowing that she would realize he had put it there in the first place. He had taken her to see Trace in his prison, and then he had freed Trace so he could be with her. “Where’s Fenn?” she asked.
Trace looked at her. “In my place,” he said. “He gave me his energy and pushed me out.” He tilted his head to gauge her reaction. “He can’t get out.”
At first, Megumi thought it was only right that Fenn give up his own freedom for Trace’s. Fenn was the one who had wronged them. Then she frowned. “Energy? What do you mean?”
Trace laughed softly. “You really don’t know much about me, do you?” he replied. He pulled her into his arms and allowed himself one more kiss. “It’s what we are,” he explained as he broke away. He touched a single rose in a vase full of roses and watched it wither and brown. In seconds, the entire dozen was dead, brittle and falling to dust. “Fenn and I. We live off stolen energy.”
Megumi blinked, but she didn’t move away from Trace. Lots of youkai were energy-drinkers. Grandpa’s own sword, Tetsusaiga, was one such. It didn’t necessarily make them bad. In fact, here in Inuyasha’s woods, many of the lesser youkai absorbed energy right from nature. Her eyes widened. Fenn’s youkai. She understood, now.
“Aren’t you afraid?” Trace sounded bitter. He, too, hadn’t moved. They stood about a foot apart, staring at each other. “I could kill you.”
Megumi shrugged, and flexed her claws. “I could kill you, too,” she said matter-of-factly. “That doesn’t mean I ever would.” She took the step forward that would bring her closer to him, and put her arms around him. “I trust you,” she said, dismissing her grandmother’s assertion that Trace had been locked up all these centuries precisely because he could not be trusted.
Trace wrapped his arms around Megumi. He could not be killed. He would have laughed. She had no idea what he could do to her. He would just have to show her. Then she would realize what he was, and she would flee from him, hopefully travelling in between so he could follow her. He was stuck, stuck in this form, stuck in this time, and stuck between here, the big city he had so recently visited, and the cave in Japan. Until he regained his self, and cast off some of his mortal ties, he was limited to following the paths of others.
“If only we could start over,” he said slyly, watching her expression as he looked into her rapt eyes, “before we lost each other.” He meant to plant the idea in her mind. Then, when she fled from him, as she would, her mind would automatically remember his words and try to escape to a time before all their troubles began. She knew the way. She had traveled it once before. And if she traveled that path to the past, then he could follow her and they really could start over, only this time, he would know what not to do. He smiled grimly. Inuyasha, this time things will happen my way.
Megumi nodded, and reached up to kiss him, and he used her lips as the contact point to suck her energy right out of her body. Her eyelids fluttered, and she sagged against him. Not too much. He needed her to be aware, and afraid. “See?” he murmured gently, releasing her lips for just a moment. “I can kiss you until you die.”
Some of Megumi’s spirit flared to life in her eyes, and she tried to back away from him. Trace couldn’t allow that. “No, my little Megumi,” he crooned. “Not that way. There’s only one way you can escape me now.” He lowered his lips to hers once more.
When the energy draw began again, Megumi gave a sharp jump, then gathered her self and went—just away. Trace, Trace, she thought wildly. If only we could go back in time. But that was beyond her understanding, even if it were possible. She was limited to places she had gone before, and in her sorrow, she went to the one place where she could be herself.
“Are you crazy, girl?” Trace spun away from her, stepping out from in between in the little house, much changed, but still in the same spot, where he and Megumi had last made love five centuries ago! Only it wasn’t then—it was now! Trace could tell that much. What was worse, this little house was near the cave where his doppelganger, Fenn, now sat in captivity.
Megumi answered by throwing herself against him and bursting into tears. “I didn’t know where else to go!” she sobbed, wiping her wet face on his shirt. She looked pale, and that made her look ethereal, with wide, gold eyes framed by dark lashes which still glistened with tears. She sank down on the modern bed, too shaky to remain standing. “I thought you loved me,” she said brokenly.
Trace felt something. He had meant to use Megumi to escape his current situation, but he had never intended to actually harm her. Some part of him had even hoped, if she had brought him back to that moment in the past where he had lost her, that they could start over, too. That there might still be a chance for them. He sat down next to her on the bed, wincing as she shrank away from him. “I—“ he began, not knowing how to proceed. He gave up, and kissed her again instead, a normal kiss, not one that literally stole her breath away.
Amazingly, Megumi responded. He could have killed her, yet she kissed him back as if the other two kisses had never happened. Trace groaned, and pushed her back onto the bed. Memories assailed him. He had had a lot of time to think during his captivity. Revenge. What he would do if he ever got free. Megumi. This place. This exact scenario.
He went with it, all thoughts of escape, and feeding, gone from his mind. Megumi was just as he remembered. Sweet, innocent, vulnerable. Only now she had a layer of sadness overlapping all the others, and he wanted to peel that layer away. She didn’t deserve to be sad. Tenderly, he kissed the last remnants of her tears away.
A door slammed. Déjà vu.
“Damn. It’s Grandma,” Megumi said, raising herself up on her elbows. “We’d better get out of here.” She reached for her clothes, grabbing up his along with them, as Trace’s eyes widened at the implications. Grandma? Kagome? That meant that this was her house now, her’s and that insufferable Inuyasha’s? Damn!
Trace glanced wildly at Megumi, needing her to lead them out. She looked back at him, puzzled, before she took his arm. “I know! Come on!” She turned in between and, still touching, Trace was able to follow her.
They emerged in the wilderness, in a place where snow still dusted the distant hills. But here, in the deeply wooded forest, the ground was bare, and deserted. “This is Grandpa Koga’s territory,” Megumi told him, dumping their clothes in a pile on the ground. “We’ll be safe here.”
She dropped down onto all fours, still naked, and glance back at Trace coyly. His all-too-human heart beat faster. In this form, he was nowhere near as fast as Megumi, who was closest to the wolf. But he gave it his best shot, chasing after her on two feet and hoping against hope that none of her father’s relatives were around to see. Because he fully intended on capturing her, and judging by the way Megumi periodically slowed down to wait for him, then sped up again after casting him another sultry look, he had no doubt it would happen very soon.
So Megumi had forgotten how to travel through time. Trace could work with that. Maybe this idyll in the woods was just what he needed to figure out what he wanted. Right now, what he wanted was Megumi.
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